USDA: Food Prices Unchanged From February

The USDA says new consumer price index for grocery store food prices, shows prices were unchanged from February to March.  That's overall, but Agriculture Department Food Price Economist Anne Marie Kuhns said last month, depending on the products some products saw a hike in price, others saw a drop.

"There was about half that went up, about half that went down. But basically the prices overall were unchanged."

Looking at the prices that increased, "Beef and veal prices increased 1.2%, we paid .7% more for pork, and 1% more for other meats. Poultry prices went up half a percent."

Among those products that saw a drop in prices, fresh fruit was down almost 2%, fresh veggies 1.5%, processed fruits and veggies one-percent down in price.  Kuhns said right now, overall grocery food prices are  4-tenths of one-percent higher than a year ago, and since January prices have gone up 0.3%.

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