Northern Ireland food banks sound the alarm over soaring prices for cheapest foodstuffs in UK supermarkets

Jonny Currie, Northern Ireland network lead for the Trussell Trust charity, issued the warning in an interview with the News Letter after new inflation figures showed the UK's most squeezed households are seeing the price they have to pay for some of the cheapest food in the supermarket soaring by nearly two thirds.

The price of the least expensive pasta that under-pressure shoppers can get has risen by 60% in the last year, according to the Office for National Statistics.

The cheapest vegetable oil on supermarket shelves has jumped by 65%.

Statisticians have collected more than a million prices from supermarket websites over the past year to compare the cost of the cheapest available produce.

It allows them to better understand the impact of the cost-of-living crisis on poorer households.

They said that the cheapest tea had risen in price by 46%, chips rose 39%, bread was up 38% and biscuits up 34%.

Mr Currie said: "We are increasingly concerned that the rising price of food is pushing more and more people towards having to use food banks, especially people who may not have had to access them before.

That's people who are affected by the cost-of-living who are in work and really struggling to make ends meet. They are being forced into making those impossible decisions.

It has an impact on who comes to our food banks, and it also has an impact on how much and what people choose to donate to our food banks as well. It does have an impact on our stock levels, and we would be concerned about that heading into the winter.”

He added: “Food banks are always keen on non-perishable goods in general. In terms of what each specific food banks' needs are in terms of shortages. It really does vary. Our advice would be to keep an eye on your local food bank's social media pages for any particular things we're short of.”