Britain is facing ‘terrifying’ food and drink price rises, the outgoing head of the Food and Drink Federation has warned.
Ian Wright warned rising inflation could soon outstrip the woes caused by supply shortages - and hard-up families will be hit the worst.
New data today showed yearly CPI inflation is 3.1%, a slight fall from 3.2% last month. But experts fear it could surge further this winter.
But that is still almost the highest in a decade, and Mr Wright told MPs it is much higher in hospitality - which is a “precursor” to prices in shops and supermarkets.
He told the Commons Business Committee: “In hospitality, which is a precursor of retail, inflation is running somewhere between 14 and 18%.
“That is terrifying.”
The CPIH inflation index for hotels, motels and inns skyrocketed from 109.2 in September 2020 to 126.2 in August 2021. It has since reduced to 121.9.
The index for restaurants and cafes rose from 112.9 in September 2020 to 117.3 in August 2021. It is now 117.5.
Mr Wright told MPs: “Now I think I’m probably the oldest person in the room. I was at university in 1977 - I remember inflation going to 27% under the Callaghan government.
“And I remember the lady going round Sainsbury’s I think with stickers twice in the same hour to change the prices again and again.
“We really cannot go back to that. It took us 15 years to recover from that. And it’s terrifying for us and everybody who is suffering.
"If the prime minister is, as I know he is, serious about levelling up, inflation is a bigger scourge than almost anything else, because it discriminates against the poor.”
It came as industry bosses warned the committee supplies of food and goods could be hit for up to a year, as the UK's lorry driver shortage would take months to recover from.
The haulage and food sectors claimed the situation on the ground was "not visibly getting better" heightening fears of supply issues in the run-up to Christmas.
Families have already been warned there could be shortages of children's toys, turkey, Christmas trees and even Quality Street this year.
Shops have started selling Christmas stock even though the festive period is more than two months away.
The Road Haulage Association's Duncan Buchanan told MPs on the business select committee: "Things are very challenged at the moment.
"There are widespread shortages of lorry drivers, which are leading delays and frustrated trips.
"Among our members we are still getting reports that this hasn't eased at all.
"Things are not visibly getting better at this stage."
The RHA has previously warned that the UK faces a shortage of up to 100,000 lorry drivers.
Mr Buchanan welcomed measures to address recruitment issues but warned they were not having an "immediate effect just yet".
Asked by committee chair Darren Jones how long it would take for the benefits to be felt, he replied: "We think it's going to be a year to recover from where we are at the moment."
Figures revealed by the Office for National Statistics show that driver numbers have plunged by 53,000 over the past four years.
This is largely driven by retiring drivers not being replaced fast enough by new recruits.
