The growing worldwide food crisis could hit Canada, warns one of the country's top consumer advocates.
Mel Fruitman, of the Consumers' Association of Canada, said that while food costs in Canada are currently among the lowest in the world, that will change.
For Canadians, the rising cost of fuel (energy) will have particular impact on the cost of food, particularly when consumers have come to expect a year-round supply of fresh fruits and vegetables in their grocery stores, Fruitman said.
"Anything that is trucked in, flown in, that comes from farther away than our normal hundred kilometres, say, is going to cost that much more to get to us," Fruitman said.
"And of course, the cost of fuel affects the cost of production of that food (and cost of energy to produce the food as well), it affects the cost of feed for the various animals. So, we are on a rising curve, there's no question about it."
Meanwhile, there are fears in India that the domestic supply of rice will dry up, and riots have broken out in Haiti among residents who are already feeling the food crunch.
The international aid organization is cutting back on the vital flow of food it can provide to the world's most impoverished -- saying it can no longer afford to feed 1.5 million of the 7.5 million people that received aid last year. Cutting back has already started
"Food crisis could hit Canada, expert warns," CTV News, April 28, 2008. Accessed November 8,
2010. http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/TopStories/20080423/world_vision_AM_080424/
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