The British taxpayer has just spent nearly £4m on an investigation into supermarket pricing. The results would suggest that the British shopper is not being ripped off, although it concluded that we do pay between 12% and 28% more for our food than other Europeans. Does that make sense to you? The report goes on to say there are economic reasons why we pay more. It states that the cost of land and rents are much higher in the UK, but at the same time forgets to tell us that supermarkets over here pay their staff up to 60% less than the continentals. It reports that the big difference in price for own label products was because the continental ones were of a lower quality. We believe that, don't we?! It's not that they are of a lower quality, it's that they are different. We buy chipolatas in baked beans, they buy Cassoulet, a delicious concoction of duck, pork and white beans. We buy frozen peas, they buy peas in jars mixed with lettuce and onion in a sweetish stock. We buy bread twice a week, they buy bread twice a day. It reports that the strong pound is a contributing factor. I am not an accountant but surely that would make the thousands of lines of imported food much cheaper. When the rest of Europe converted to the euro, one Euro was worth around 0.71p. Now the Euro is worth about 0.58p, a drop of around 17%. Have you noticed any price reduction in French, Italian, or Spanish wine, French cheese, mineral water, or canned tomatoes from Italy? It's a scandal and it's the same for us restaurateurs. Instead of a drop in the price of champagne, increases of between 11%-17% were recorded. The suppliers tell us they buy six months to a year ahead. Now, the euro has been weak for a long time and, if that argument is to work, we should all expect a price drop in a few months time, but we can dream on. {{NEWS }}