Consumers are getting ripped off on the price of food, chief economist Mike Schussler reportedly told the National Consumer Forum last week. While consumers shake their heads and mutter, "Tell me something I don't know...", I find it a little refreshing to hear that economists are at least noticing. Because although the word 'price-fixing' has been circulating the bakeries and dairies for some years now, just what exactly has filtered down to the shelf? With Tiger Brands, Premier Foods and Foodcorp admitting to their respective roles in the great bread cartel, and Pioneer Foods taking to the courts last week to defend itself against accusations of alleged involvement, has anyone noticed any difference in the actual price of the product on-shelf? I, for one, haven't noticed any change. If anything, the cost of bread just keeps rising along with everything else. How is this permissible? How is it that after all these years of paying more than necessary for basic foodstuffs, these companies get slapped with fines only to continue with business as usual - as far as the cost of things are concerned - while the millions of consumers who were exploited in the first place get nothing, not even a marginal reduction in price? How is this acceptable? We may as well just eat cake...

Shan Radcliffe, Retail editor retailnews@bizcommunity.com Responses to this column welcomed in our new online editor's column archive. Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net.