Food prices eating up family budgets

A growing number of UAE residents has seen the price of food increase in the past year.

UAE residents are feeling the pinch of steep rises in the price of food, a new survey reveals.

The survey, compiled for Al Aan TV's Nabd Al Arab ("Arab's Pulse") programme by YouGov Siraj, found that 90 per cent of the 1,516 residents interviewed had noticed an increase in the cost of food in the past six months.

They are not alone: since last September alone, the UN world food price index has ballooned from 194 to 231, a 19 per cent jump.

Asked which food prices had increased most noticeably, a quarter (27 per cent) of UAE residents identified meat, and almost as many (26pc) pointed to fresh vegetables.

They were generally satisfied that their food was safe to eat, though, with 56 per cent believing food sold in shops was either safe (34pc) or very safe (22pc) and just five per saying it was not.

Recent efforts to promote local produce seem to be taking root, with two thirds (65pc) saying they often buy food grown or raised locally. Still, the UAE imports 80 per cent of its food.

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