Australia's prime minister joked he would huddle with top officials Thursday to discuss the soaring cost of lettuce and local KFCs' decision to replace the verdant leaf with a cabbage mix on their Zinger Burgers.

Dubbing the fast-food chain's decision "crazy", centre-left leader Anthony Albanese quipped the situation had become a national "crisis".

Lettuce prices have soared by as much as 300 percent in Australian cities thanks to recent flooding and high global fuel prices.

Syed Hyder from a stall at Melbourne's Queen Victoria Market adjusts a display of iceberg lettuce on June 7, 2022, with the local price soaring by as much as 300 percent in recent months.
Syed Hyder from a stall at Melbourne's Queen Victoria Market adjusts a display of iceberg lettuce on June 7, 2022, with the local price soaring by as much as 300 percent in recent months. AFP / William WEST

A single head of iceberg lettuce that once sold for about $2 now goes for close to $8 in Sydney and Melbourne.

As a result, KFC told Australian customers it would reduce the lettuce in its products in favour of a 50-50 lettuce-cabbage mix.

"Cabbage isn't the same as lettuce. That's just wrong," Albanese told Sydney's KIIS FM radio.

"I'll put it on the list for the Cabinet meeting today. Cabbage-gate."