Fast food giant McDonald’s is running out of French fries in Japan.

McDonald’s says it can’t get hold of enough potatoes because of industrial action in America.

As a result the company has to ration French fries for customers.

“Unfortunately without this sales restriction step, we would run the danger of running out of fries at some of our stores around the end of the year,” said McDonald’s Japan spokeswoman Kokoro Toyama.

There are more than 3,100 McDonald’s outlets in Japan.

For now they will only serve small portions of fries, though they won’t restrict how many portions customers can order.

More than 1,000 tonnes of potatoes have already been flown in to try to boost supplies. They started arriving this week.

A further 1,600 tonnes will be imported by sea but they won’t arrive until January.

The industrial dispute in America is between 20,000 dockworkers and terminal operators and shipping lines at 29 ports on the west coast of the US.

This isn’t the first time that Japan’s been hit by a food shortage in recent weeks.

For most of this month supplies of butter have been so low that supermarkets have had to limit customers to one pack each.

[youtube t_j-NH3gIBI 650]