‘Meat, vegetable, chocolate among items seeing significant price rise’

Meat and vegetables are named among the items that have almost doubled in price compared with the same time 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 per cent in March to 17.1 per cent in April, the food tracker states that Brits are still continuing to struggle with the price of food and rising household bills.

Later today, Downing Street will host a Farm To Fork Summit, bringing together representatives from farming, food, retail and supermarkets to talk about supply chains, resilience and food inflation.

Sue Davies, Which? head of food policy, said Prime Minister Rishi Sunak should ask supermarket bosses to “commit to do much more” such as stocking budget lines in convenience stores and providing transparent pricing so shoppers can easily find the best value items,   reported.

“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.