‘Bloody outrage’: Customer’s fury over IGA fresh produce costs

Shoppers are furious at the cost of fresh produce in a Queensland IGA, with one remarking “only the elite can afford fresh fruit and veggies”.

A Queensland shopper has shared her “outrage” at the cost of fresh produce at her local IGA, amid warnings that a “perfect storm” of high fuel costs, ballooning wholesale gas prices and pressure on resources could see a 10 per cent increase in food costs this year.

Taking to Reddit on Monday, the woman shared two photos of the produce section from the supermarket in Redcliffe, in Queensland’s Moreton Bay Region.

One showed a display of iceberg lettuces – which were priced at a whopping $11.99 each – while the other showed punnets of strawberries and blueberries, priced at $14.99 and $19.49 respectively. Per kilo, the strawberries were priced at $59.96, while the blueberries were priced at $155.92.

“That’s a bloody outrage, it is!” she wrote alongside the images.

“I live in a place where only the elite can afford fresh fruit and vegetables, the worst bit is that I’m a bloody Australian; we literally grow 99 per cent of our fresh produce here.”

Iceberg lettuces for $11.99 at a Queensland IGA. Picture: Reddit

Strawberries and blueberries cost $14.99 and $19.49 respectively. Picture: Reddit

The post ignited a heated debate among hundreds of Aussies on the platform, with dozens of shoppers declaring the prices were “just another reason to avoid supermarkets” and head to independent grocers instead.

“Go to a fruit and veg shop, not a convenience store as that’s what you’re paying for,” one commented. “Hit the markets or fruit and veg stores. Way better.”

Others suggested that no one in their “right mind” would pay that much for fruit and vegetables.

“Right mind” or not, though, it’s looking more likely Australians will have to cop such prices.

Speaking to The Australian, agriculture expert David Williams said that without even factoring in the war in Ukraine, weather disasters or labour shortages, “Covid-related effects alone” would have good companies increasing costs by 10 per cent this year.

“One-off significant increases in grain costs will drive food inflation and increase the cost of stock feed and therefore beef and other proteins,” Mr Williams said.

“The effect of this will be that the unbelievable success of increasing incomes in developing countries will now be undermined by pushing people back into poverty and starvation for others.”

Global leaders have previously shared fears of a pending food crisis, with International Monetary Fund (IMF) managing director Kristalina Georgieva highlighting food security as a pressing concern in late May.

“We can shrink the use of petrol when growth slows down but we have to eat every day,” she told the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

“The anxiety about access to food at a reasonable price globally, is hitting the roof.”

Capsicums at Harris Farm retailing for $18.99 per kilo. Picture: Supplied

Others on the Reddit thread came to the defence of fresh produce growers, citing recent flooding in Queensland as the reason for the price hike.

“Well, given that Bundaberg had its crops wiped out and the food bowl in [the] Lockyer Valley is decimated due to relentless rain, food [prices] are up,” one commented.

A farmer wrote that the cost of his profession had “roughly tripled” this year, with the price of fertiliser and fuel at an all-time high.

“Fertiliser [has] gone from $1200 a ton up to $3k being cheap. You all know what fuel has done. Glysophate has gone $6/L to $13-$14.”