Fresh food prices are rising at their fastest rate in almost a decade – fuelling concerns that struggling families face a nightmare choice between eating and heating.
Retailers warned there would be further increases in healthy fresh produce, with December seeing a 3 percent increase compared to a year earlier.
The rise, the fastest rate since April 2013, comes at the same time as households face big increases in the cost of heat and light with annual energy bills predicted to soar by £500-£800.
This will result in a significant increase in national insurance, council tax and rail fares as well as mortgage repayments.

Prices for healthy produce are rising faster than ever since April 2013, with December’s increase reaching 3 percent year-on-year
The ongoing shipping and delivery challenges and container shipping crises are causing household goods to cost more. IKEA last week confirmed that the UK prices have risen by around 10%.
Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium, said: ‘Consumers may have noticed that their Christmas shop became a little more expensive in December. The prices rose at an even faster pace, especially for food, than they had in December.
‘Food prices were falling earlier on in 2021, but the acute labour shortages across supply chains, amongst other factors, led to the year ending with a notable increase; for example, fresh food saw the largest rate of inflation in almost a decade.’
The BRC also said that the average increase across all food prices, including packet and tinned products, was 2.4 per cent in December – the highest since March 2019.
It claimed that labour shortages play a significant role in rising prices, and demanded government intervention. This group has been advocating greater freedom for workers to come from overseas, and HGV drivers.

IKEA announced last week that the UK will see a rise in prices of around 10% as inflation increases
Miss Dickinson said: ‘The trajectory for consumer prices is very clear: they will continue to rise, and at a faster rate.’
Official CPI rates of inflation cover all goods, services and transportation. They currently run at 5.5% and are expected to climb to 6.1% in the coming months.
The BRC’s figures will heap pressure on ministers to help households facing a cost of living crisis.
MPs called for action by the government to curb rising energy costs on Sunday
Ministers have been under increasing pressure to lower the 5 percent VAT and eliminate the levies on bills that cover green energy investment, like wind energy and the improvement of the national grid of pipes and cables.

There is pressure on the Government and Prime Minister to address the crisis of the cost-of-living by scrapping VAT for energy bills
The Government’s energy price cap is due to be revised in February, with the increase put on customers’ bills from April.
Consumer champion Martin Lewis said: ‘What’s coming in April is a seismic hit for fuel bills. There will be a minimum 50% increase in energy prices… which is not sustainable for most.
‘We need to look at what we can do now and how we can protect those people who will need to choose between heating and eating. There are already some who are having to make that choice.’