Food prices rise despite slowing inflation rate

Food prices have risen again and now 11.4 per cent and show no signs of slowing down.

LETHBRIDGE, Alta. -

New data released by Statistics Canada Wednesday contained both good and bad news for consumers.

On the positive side, inflation continued to decrease, down to 6.9 per cent in the month of September.

While it’s not as significant a drop as many experts anticipated, it’s a step in the right direction.

The same can’t be said for food prices however.

Food prices have risen again. They're now up 11.4 per cent and show no signs of slowing down.

This marks the 10^th consecutive month where food prices have outpaced inflation.

Experts warn the consumers have to be careful how they shop to avoid paying more then they should.

“Don't buy everything you need for the next month. Go strategically into a place, and know exactly the market value of all the products you need that day. If you shop at the grocery store without knowing the actual market value of those products you will pay too much,” said Sylvain Charlebois with the agri-food analytics lab at Dalhousie University.

MAKING ENDS MEET

The sharp rise in food costs have forced many locally to find new ways to make ends meet.

The Lethbridge Foodbank says they’ve added about 50 new households as clients recently and it’s been tied to the rise in food costs.

“The rise in clients we've had at this food bank has been almost the exact same time that we've seen food inflation go up as well,” said Lethbridge Foodbank executive director Mac Nichol.

Lethbridge grocery store

This sudden increase in clients and more expensive groceries have made things more difficult for the food bank.

“We're seeing about a 10 to 20 percent rise is cost for food overall," said MacNichol. "That really does make a problem for us we only budget a certain amount of money for food purchasing every year.”