Food prices rose at the fastest pace for 18 months in June, pushing up the cost of shopping for families by more than £50 in one month alone.

The cost of groceries rose by 1 per cent last month and is now 7 per cent higher than in June last year, figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) show.

The average yearly food bill for a family of four is now £360 more than this time last year.

Shoppers who buy curries or pasta dishes will be hit harder, as the cost of some popular items have risen by far more than the average. The cost of a 1kg (2lb 2oz) bag of basmati rice has nearly doubled over the past year, according to mysupermarket.com, the supermarket price comparison site, while the cost of a 500g bag of fusilli pasta has risen by more than 110 per cent, or 42p.

A loaf of white bread is now 20 per cent more costly at 65p, while the price of butter has risen by 62 per cent.

Stephen Robertson, the director-general of the BRC, said that the average increase in food prices was modest compared with agricultural prices, which have risen between 60 and 80 per cent over the past year.

“Although their own costs are going up, food retailers are running high-profile price cuts and promotions.

They are keeping prices to customers down by cutting costs and increasing sales,” he said.

There were fears, however, that the 1 per cent jump in food prices in June, along with the first increase in the price of nonfood items such as clothing, footwear and electrical goods since December 2006, could herald further rises as retailers begin to pass on increased costs to customers.

Prices of all retail goods rose by an average of 2.5 per cent compared with May last year, up from 1.8 per cent in April, although the BRC points out that this is still lower than the rate of inflation, currently at 3.3 per cent.

The figures still make worrying reading for the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee, which will announce its decision on interest rates today, as it struggles to keep inflation under control.

Mervyn King, the Governor of the Bank, has given warning that inflation could rise to more than 4 per cent before the end of the year, far above the Bank’s 2 per cent target.

Howard Archer, chief UK and European economist at Global Insight, an economic consultancy, said that rising food and energy costs could prompt workers to demand more pay.

“This could lead to a damaging wage-price spiral developing, which the Bank of England is determined to prevent,” he said.

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