The British Retail Consortium (BRC) carried out the one-off analysis of food price inflation following widespread reports that the days of cheap food were over.

It said this conclusion was wide of the mark and used figures from its own monthly Shop Price Index to show that food prices fell between June and July and July and August as discounting increased.

A spokesman said:

"Although this data does not reflect the price changes that have occurred in the past couple of weeks, which are likely to have pushed food inflation up a touch, the August results underline the strength of retail competition in the grocery market and should be a useful counterweight in some of the more alarmist forecasts of the future price rises."