Many people have been impacted by the recent and steady increase in the price of food. Frequently discussed is the significant increase in egg prices during recent months.
According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the overall price of food rose by 10.4% between December 2021 and December 2022, while eggs alone saw an increase of 59.9%.
Jason Arnett, Manager of the JCCC Food Court and Coffee Bar Operations, gives first hand insight into the real-life effects these price increases have had on JCCC Dining Services and the buyers it serves.
“Over the last 18 months or so, we’ve started feeling [the price increases],” Arnett said. “We just took a price increase in Chick-fil-A last week because [Chick-Fil-A is] having to pay more for the chickens.”
Liliana Lorenzo, second year student, has also felt the effects of these prices.
“As a college student, you don’t have that much money,” Lorenzo said. “Now that everything is higher [in price], you have to really budget well in order to make ends meet.”
But what has been causing food prices to increase and consumers to pay more for basic foods?
While of the opinion that this is a more complicated problem due to multiple factors, Arnett pointed out a common theme.
“Coming out of the pandemic there’s production issues; there’s wage issues,” Arnett said. “Everybody’s has to bring their wages up and that gets passed on to the customer as well.”
Lorenzo, who raises chickens in her backyard, has also felt the rise in food production costs for her chickens.
“Food prices for the chickens have skyrocketed” Lorenzo said. “Any of our scraps that we have from the table […] we throw in the chicken coop so we don’t have to pay for that extra food.”
However this does not necessarily spell doom for the future. Arnett gives us a glimpse of hope for the future recovery of food prices.
“Eggs [prices] are coming down,” said Arnett. “That says flocks are recovering.
Elia Mast, volunteer writer