U.S. food prices are 11.2-percent higher than a year ago, modestly lower than the inflation rate of the previous month and ending a string of month-over-month increases dating from June 2021, said the government on Thursday. At the same time, food costs at employee sites and schools skyrocketed by nearly 45 percent in September, “reflecting the expiration of some free school lunch programs,” said the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).
The overall U.S. inflation rate was 8.2 percent for the year ending in September, said the monthly Consumer Price Index report. The food inflation rate has exceeded the all-items rate since March. Americans spend 13.6 cents of each consumer dollar on food.
“No amount of handwaving can make today’s CPI [number] less ugly,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, on social media. “Stubbornly high inflation is a problem across many goods and services.”
The food inflation rate of 11.2 percent was 0.2 percentage points lower than in the preceding month.
Groceries, which account for two-thirds of food spending, cost 13 percent more than they did a year ago, although they were down 0.5 points from the previous month. “The index for cereals and bakery products increased 16.2 percent over the year, and the index for dairy and related products rose 15.9 percent,” said the BLS. The other food categories, including meat, dairy, fruits and vegetables, and beverages, rose between 9 percent and 15.7 percent. The inflation rate for food away from home, which includes restaurants, cafeterias, and carryout food, rose to 8.5 percent, an increase of 0.5 points.