// Supermarkets accused of failing to curb rocketing food prices
// Food inflation jumped to 19.1% in March, the sharpest rise in 45 years.
Supermarkets have been accused of failing to curb rocketing food prices after the cost of groceries jumped a record high.
Food and drink inflation rose to 19.1% in March, the sharpest rise in 45 years, thanks to strong increases across everything from bread, cucumbers, eggs and milk.
This meant that overall inflation remained in the double digits at 10.1%.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said that while international food prices had begun to fall, supermarkets had not passed this on.
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“You would expect to see [global food price falls] reflected in supermarkets but we’re not there yet,” the ONS told the BBC.
Food production costs have been steadily falling since it peaked in October last year and MPs are now pushing for the grocers to pass on lower prices.
Conservative MP for the Cotswolds Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown said “There have been significant drops in raw materials.
“The price of wheat has fallen, for example, because a lot more grain is coming out of Ukraine by road and rail.
“That means that feed costs for livestock are coming down. That means the price of chicken, beef and lamb should come down.”
The cost of food was pushed up by February’s vegetable supply shortages which seeped into March as well as expensive energy and an outbreak of avian flu, which affected the supply of eggs and poultry.
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