Italian national consumer union Altroconsumo is warning that Italian families are seeing their living standards fall as each week the cost of food items in grocery stores is increasing.

Over the past year, Italians have been forced to change their shopping habits and turn to discounters when shopping for groceries, as supermarket prices have increased by over 12% over the past year.

The organization noted that many shoppers are either shifting their buying habits toward cheaper food products or they are dropping certain products from their shopping lists entirely.

Altroconsumo said, “People are facing constant price increases, and they note it every week when they have to pay for goods at a supermarket checkout. Despite this, advertisements on TV, radio, newspapers and websites are frantically churning out promises of low prices or various promotions and special discounts to save money.”

A study by the organization looked at prices in 1203 stores, and found that there was a 12.6% increase in the prices of food products between March 2022 and March 2023. Prices increased by only 2.6% over the previous year, according to the data.

The General Confederation of Italian Industry recently released a report which showed most Italian families are buying less groceries and prefer purchasing cheaper house brands, or just purchasing essential items.

Over the fourth quarter of last year, households cut back their spending on food by 8.7% compared to the first quarter of 2021, according to the data.

Massimiliano Donna, the president of the National Consumer Union (UNC) said, “Italians are on a forced diet due to skyrocketing inflation, which, after energy products, has mainly affected food products.”

According to the UNC, in August, food prices surged by 11% year over year, as the cost of a “consumer basket” increased by 10.2%.