Meat and vegetables are among the items that have almost doubled in price in UK supermarkets compared with last year.
According to recent data from consumer watchdog Which?, the prices of juice, yoghurt, chocolate, water, fish, chilled ready meals and cheese also saw significant price rises.
While food inflation fell slightly from 17.2% in March to 17.1% in April, according to the Which? food tracker, Brits still continue to struggle with the price of food and rising household bills.
For example, over the past year Morliny Frankfurters at Asda increased from £1.25 to £2.42 – a 93.8% rise – while four brown onions at Morrisons rose from 65p to £1.24 – a 90.8% rise – and Lancashire Farm Natural Bio Yoghurt 1kg went from £1.18 to £2.18 – a 85.3% hike.
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UK supermarkets have claimed that food prices have peaked and that inflation will start falling significantly this year. Retailers like Tesco and Morrisons have already started dropping the price of bread and cheese.
“We know that the current food price crisis is causing a great many households to cut back on essentials,” senior business and investor engagement manager at The Food Foundation, Rebecca Tobi, told Sky News.
“With levels of food poverty among children having doubled in the year to January 2023, government and businesses must act urgently to ensure that everyone can afford and access healthy essentials like fruit and vegetables.
“If not, we will be seeing the long-term health and economic consequences of the cost of living crisis playing out for years to come,” Tobi concluded.
