Cost of food items: People in Newcastle told to accept rising food prices

The boss of Kraft Heinz has said that people need to accept and get used to higher food prices.

Miguel Patricio, who is chief executive of the fifth largest food and beverage company in the world, identified the specific reason in the UK for a rise in food prices as the shortage in truck drivers.

He said: "Specifically in the UK, with the lack of truck drivers. In [the] US logistic costs also increased substantially, and there’s a shortage of labour in certain areas of the economy."

In an interview with BBC, Mr Patricio said that the increase in food prices is due to the world’s population rising whilst the amount of land on which to grow food is not.

In the longer term "there’s a lot to come in technology to improve the effectiveness of farmers" that will help, he said.

The company is going to be increasing food prices in several countries around the world and Mr Patricio said that the impact of inflation was being felt “across the board”.

Not all cost increases should be passed on to consumers, Mr Patricio said. Firms would have to take on some of the weight of rising costs.

Mr Patricio added: "I think it’s up to us, and to the industry, and to the other companies to try to minimise these price increases.”