An English TV presenter has been forced to apologise after she made a 'joke' about the Irish famine.

Alice Beer was presenting a segment on ITV's This Morning where she was showing the correct foods to store in a fridge.

This Morning host Eamonn Holmes was questioning her on the storage of potatoes when she made the gaffe live on air.

The presenter of the segment, 'The Great Fridge Debate', suggested people should store their potatoes in the fridge.

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“I’m from Ireland,” Eamonn Holmes protested.

"You don’t put potatoes in the fridge.”

Beer responded: "You want to preserve the life of your potatoes.

"You Irish should know that.

“There was a bit of a shortage once upon a time," she added.

A quick camera shot of Eamonn Holmes' face showed his disdain as the presenters continued the discussion.

Angry viewers took to the social media platform Twitter to complain about the quip.

One person wrote; "Nothing like a bit of casual racism & making light of a million people's deaths but its only the Irish so it doesn't matter."

Another tweeted: “Shortage of potatoes comment was a bit of a low blow.”

Beer took to her own Twitter account to apologise, writing: "“I apologise for the insensitivity of my comment which of course was never intended to offend. It was stupid”.

Watch the comment from 4.55 on the video timeline:

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