The price of some everyday groceries has more than doubled over the last year, according to Which?.
This is based off the consumer champion's food and drink inflation tracker.
Which? analysed inflation on more than 25,000 food and drink products at eight major supermarkets 'to see how everyday product prices are being affected'.
Read more: We compare the prices of value range products at three NI supermarkets
Here are the items revealed by Which? from Asda, Lidl, Tesco and Sainsbury's which 'have seen the biggest percentage price rises in a year'.
Which? said: "The analysis covered the average price of the products in the three months to the end of February 2023 compared to the same time period last year.
"Our tracker has allowed us to pinpoint the items with the highest inflation at each supermarket to find which products have seen the biggest percentage price rises."
According to the consumer champion:, items from some supermarkets in the findings where the average price has risen the most in a year were:
- Asda’s Free From Special Flakes (300g) - went from 62p to £1.43 (129%)
- Sainsbury’s Hubbard's Foodstore Water (2L) - went from 17p to 35p (106%)
- Tesco's Creamfields French Brie (200G) - went from 82p to £1.65 (103%)
- Lidl’s Chene D'argent Camembert (250g) - went from 99p to £2 (102%)
Which say they found a range of everyday items in each supermarket’s list of groceries with the highest inflation. This included milk, meat and fruit.
"Own-brand products were particularly hard-hit..." they added.
Which continued: "This reflects the trackers’ findings that overall, budget (22.9%) and own-brand (19.7%) items were again subject to higher rates of inflation than premium (13.8%) and branded counterparts (13.3%)."
The tracker found that in the one month to the end of February, the annual inflation of popular food and drink was at 16.5% across all eight retailers.
It also found that inflation on vegetables rose from 11.6% to 13%, juice drinks and smoothies went from 13.4% to 15.1% and cereals increased from 13.4% cent to 14.6%.
Annual inflation for the one month to the end of Feb 2023:
- Lidl - 24.4%
Asda - 17%
- Sainsbury's - 14.1%
Tesco - 14%
Which said: "It's important to remember inflation is a measure of how quickly prices are rising or falling and not of absolute price..."
Mirror report Sue Davies, head of food policy at Which? said: "Worryingly our tracker shows that some everyday essentials have more than doubled in price over the last year - with cheaper own-brand items particularly hard hit.
"Supermarkets need to step up and ensure everyone has easy access to basic, affordable food ranges at a store near them, particularly in areas where people are most in need.
"Retailers must also provide transparent pricing so people can easily work out which products offer the best value."
An Asda spokesperson told Which?: 'We’re working hard to keep prices in check for customers despite global inflationary pressures and we remain the lowest-priced major supermarket – a position recognised by Which? in their regular monthly basket comparison which has named Asda as the cheapest supermarket for a big shop every month for the last three years. We recently announced we would be freezing the prices of over 500 popular branded and own label products, more than half of which are fresh meat, dairy, fruit and vegetable products until the end of May.'
Which? report a Lidl spokesperson said: "We are extremely concerned that since the launch of this ‘tracker’ Which? has consistently chosen to publish information that we, and other retailers, have confirmed to be incorrect. This includes data for products that we do not even sell."
Which? said that Lidl has “failed to say what the inaccuracies are”.
The consumer champion said they approached Sainsbury’s and Tesco for comment but hadn’t received a reply at the time of publication.
To find out more and for details on findings from all eight UK retailers, CLICK HERE.
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