The average increase in the price of food this February compared to February 2025 was up by almost six per cent according to Statistics Canada.

In Newfoundland and Labrador, the largest item increase was fresh or frozen beef, which jumped by almost 17 per cent over that 12-month span. Pork rose by nearly 10 per cent in that period and chicken by almost four.

There wasn’t much change in this province in the price of fish or fresh vegetables while cereal actually ended up costing less over that time.

Sylvain Charlerbois, director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University, expects costs to go up again over the next while, mainly because of the war in Iran and the increase in fuel prices.

“Compared to other countries, we tend not to be able to absorb geo-political shock like others, and the Iranian war is not going to help,” said Charlebois.