Students seeing their grocery bills increase
BELLEVILLE – Students will probably see a jump in their grocery bills, according to the latest annual report on Canadian food prices done by the University of Guelph.
Kaitlin Poole, a student in Loyalist College’s Social Services Worker program, has recently noticed her grocery bill rise.
“If you tend to eat healthier your food prices go up,” Poole said. “The junk food I find is cheaper. You see chips 99 cents but you never see grapes – you never see lettuce or salads on sale.”
“And I find in the winter prices go up on the healthier stuff because it gets harder to produce the vegetables in the winter than it is in the summer.”
She is not the only one noticing the hike in prices. Meat, dairy and vegetables are the products other students at Loyalist say they have noticed cost more.
The report was released in December 2014 but was updated Feb. 3 because of changes to Canada’s economy.
According to the report the rising prices are due to the falling dollar, the need to import more because of closed manufacturing plants in Canada, and droughts in California, from which Canada imports most of its vegetables in the winter.
From the updated report: “Canada is likely to import over $40 billion worth of food products this year. Among the myriad food products are fruits and nuts, vegetables, coffee, fish, chocolate, many imported processed foods, some speciality meats and alcohol beverages. We expect our weaker domestic currency to add further pressure, forcing prices upward for these products.”
The expected price changes in foods this year:
- Meat: up 3 to 5 per cent
- Fish and seafood: up 3 to 5 per cent
- Dairy and eggs: between a drop of 1 per cent and an increase of 1 per cent
- Grains: up 0 to 2 per cent
- Fruit and nuts: up 3 to 5 per cent
- Vegetables: up 5.5 to 7.5 per cent
- Restaurant foods: up 1 to 3 per cent
Loyalist has a program that’s much like a food bank for students. Dan Truman, the co-ordinator of student services at Loyalist, helps distribute food boxes for students in need. Despite the rise in food prices, he said he hasn’t seen much of a increase in participation but that could change when the numbers are compiled.
“We order 15 boxes at a time and then students will come up when they are in need,” he said. “So it’s not, as far as I’m seeing, any busier than it has been in the past.”
Another option for students who feel they’re spending too much at the grocery store could be the local farmers’ market.
Jackie Tapp, the Belleville Farmers’ Market manager, says that the cost of food at the market depends on the operating costs of the farmers and how much fuel costs.
“I’d say if fuel prices stay down, food prices locally shouldn’t go up – because a lot of it is based on the tractor work and that sort of thing,” she said.
The market is open Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. year round.
It’s not only students feeling the effects of the extra cost of food. Restaurants too are affected.
Michael Petrella, manager at Linguine’s Italian Restaurant in Belleville, has seen a drastic increase in food cost that he says is hurting everyone, including small businesses.
“A case of romaine hearts two months ago were selling for about anywhere between $28 (and) $35. Last week the same case of romaine hearts were selling for $78,” he said.
You won’t see an increase in the prices on his menu, though.
“We can’t raise prices because basically if we do we mark ourselves out of the market,” Petrella said. “We’re trying to ride it out, and hopefully we will at least break even at the end.”
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