UK food price inflation at third-highest level since 2008

A shopper walks along the meat aisle inside an Aldi supermarket near Altrincham. The discount chain was the fastest-growing grocer over the past month. Photograph: Phil Noble/Reuters

UK food price inflation remains at its third-highest level since the financial crisis, with the annual rate at which the cost of groceries is increasing at the elevated level of 17.2%, retail industry data shows.

Prices barely eased during the four weeks to 14 May to only marginally below April’s 17.3% figure, according to the latest release from the analytics firm Kantar, representing the third-highest rate of grocery inflation since 2008.