UK's most expensive food items revealed as prices of key staples double - including at Tesco, Asda and Lidl
16 May 2023, 05:31 | Updated: 16 May 2023, 06:05
Some meat, yoghurt and vegetables are among items that have doubled in price compared to a year ago, new research shows.
Analysis of more than 26,000 food and drink products at Aldi, Asda, Lidl, Morrisons, Ocado, Sainsbury's, Tesco and Waitrose show that essential food groups are continuing to rise in price month on month.
That is despite overall food inflation starting to fall, dropping from 17.2% in March to 17.1 per cent in April, according to Which?
While the rate at which milk, butter and bread is slowing, other staple items have continued to rise, with Which? saying food inflation remains at "shockingly high" levels.
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Which food items have doubled in price?
At Asda, Morliny Frankfurters (350g) rose from an average of £1.25 to £2.42 - a rise of 93.8% - on a year ago.
A pack of four brown onions at Morrisons went from 65p to £1.24, a 90.8% rise over 12 months.
Also at Morrisons, Lancashire Farm Natural Bio Yoghurt 1kg went up from £1.18 to £2.18 over the year, a rise of 85.3%.
Other food categories where inflation continued to rise month on month included juice, chocolate, water, fish, chilled ready meals and cheese.
Which? found Aberdoyle Dairies Natural Cottage Cheese 300g at Lidl had gone from an average of 67p in 2022 to £1.34 this year, a difference of 100.9%.
At Tesco, a 260g pack of own-brand salmon tails rose 51.4% from £3 to £4.54.
Supermarket own-label budget items were up 25% in April on 12 months ago, demonstrating how low-income shoppers are being hit hard by soaring inflation.
Branded goods, meanwhile, showed no change on March, staying at 13.8% higher than last April, while regular own-brand food and premium own-brand food inflation decreased slightly.
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It comes as the Prime Minister plans to bring together farmers' representatives and food and retail trade bodies along with supermarket chiefs to talk about the Government's goal of boosting cooperation and food inflation.
Rebecca Tobi, senior business and investor engagement manager at The Food Foundation, said: "We know that the current food price crisis is causing a great many households to cut back on essentials.
"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."
