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Greedflation? Food Brands Might Be Taking Advantage of Shoppers, Alleges Tesco Chairman. It's "entirely possible" that food producers aren't being 100% transparent.

By Amanda Breen Edited by Jessica Thomas

Malte Mueller | Getty Images

Costs at the grocery store and gas pump have spiked amid inflation, but it might not all be as inevitable as it seems.

John Allan, chairman of Tesco (one of Britain's largest supermarket chains), told the BBC that it was "entirely possible" that food producers are taking advantage of the situation — and lower-income consumers.

Related: Mark Cuban Shares His Hack for How to Get Cheaper Groceries

Allan said Tesco is challenging companies it believes are unnecessarily increasing prices: "We have a team who can look at the composition of food, costs of commodities, and work out whether or not these cost increases are legitimate."

But consumer group Which? claimed that Tesco and other supermarkets might just be deflecting the blame, CNBC Monday reported.

According to Which?'s latest Supermarket Inflation tracker, December food and drink inflation was at 15% year-over-year across eight major supermarkets, with own-brand products seeing higher rates of inflation (18.5%) compared to branded items (12.5%).

Related: 3 Ways to Follow a Greedless Road to Success

"Despite more people opting for own-brands and basic products to help them through the cost of living, these ranges have been subject to higher rates of inflation than premium and branded foods," Reena Sewraz, Which? retail editor, told CNBC.

Amanda Breen

Entrepreneur Staff

Senior Features Writer

Amanda Breen is a senior features writer at Entrepreneur.com. She is a graduate of Barnard College and received an MFA in writing at Columbia University, where she was a news fellow for the School of the Arts.

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