Inflation sees supermarket own brand items including cereal, cheese and fruit double in price in 12 months says Which?

The prices of some everyday groceries have more than doubled in a year for people in Suffolk - with own brand supermarket products behind some of the biggest hikes - suggests a study of 25,000 food and drink items.

From cereal to cheese, analysis of items at eight major supermarkets, has found that it is grocery staples that have experienced the highest inflation, with own brand products hard-hit.

Consumer group Which? looked at items with the highest inflation at each supermarket to find which products have seen the biggest percentage rises in the three months to the end of February, compared with the same period last year.

Milk, meat and fruit say researchers all feature in each supermarket's list of groceries with the highest inflation - highlighting how under pressure shoppers are to afford the most essential and basic of items even when attempting to purchase supermarket own brands.

The list of the biggest price increases reflects the tracker's findings that overall it is budget and own-brand items experiencing higher rates of inflation compared to premium or branded counterparts.

Among the products to have doubled in price are:

* Asda’s Free From Special Flakes (300g) up from 62p to £1.43 (129% increase)

* Waitrose’s Essential Italian Mozzarella - 80p to £1.77 (121%)

* Morrison’s Free From Corn Flakes (300g) 60p to £1.29 (115%).

* Sainsbury’s Hubbard’s Foodstore Water (2L) 17p to 35p (106%)

* Tesco Creamfields French Brie (200G) 82p to £1.65 (103%)

* Lidl’s Chene D’argent Camembert (250g) 99p to £2 (102%)

While it hadn't quite doubled in price the report highlighted very basic items which had been subjected to considerable increases such as Aldi's Nature's Pick Honeydew Melon, that has risen from 95p to £1.70 (79%) in the last year.

Among the exceptions to the own-brands rule was a box of Cadbury's Milk Tray Chocolate stocked and sold by Ocado, which has risen from £4.21 in February last year to £7.81 last month - a leap of 86%.

While inflation rates have dropped slightly among some high inflation categories - such as butters and spreads which decreased from 29.9% last month to now 26.1% - rates are rocketing in others.

Inflation on vegetables rose from 11.6 per cent to 13 per cent, not helped by the recent shortages of some items, juice drinks and smoothies went from 13.4 per cent to 15.1 per cent and cereals increased from 13.4 per cent to 14.6 per cent.

Which? is currently lobbying for all supermarkets to work on making sure basic budget line items are widely available, particularly in areas where people are most in need.
Sue Davies, Which? Head of Food Policy, 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."