EU asks food shops to act 'responsibly' on prices

Europe's farm chief called on retailers not to make European Union's (EU) consumers pay excessively for staple foods such as bread and milk despite recent surges in international grain and dairy markets.

EU Agriculture Commissioner Mariann Fischer Boel said: "As we all know, the
contribution of the raw material to the final price of foods like bread is
relatively small, so I hope that the supermarkets and discounters will act
responsibly."
EU dairy prices have rocketed in recent months, especially for butter and
skimmed milk powder, partly due to a much firmer world market but also because
of very tight EU-27 conditions.
Despite higher supermarket prices, European shoppers should still not
shy away
from paying a little extra for EU food if necessary, Fischer Boel said.
"I hope European consumers will put their money where their mouth is
and be
prepared to pay a little bit more for EU produce. Where we win out
every time
is in quality and in the attention we pay to animal welfare and the
environment," she wrote on her website.