Food costs still soaring—food crimes at an all-time high

Food crimes are certainly on the rise, as a recent report suggests. The reasons behind this are what most should be paying close attention to however, as the crimes seem to be derived from a form of necessity.

This of course doesn’t make any of this okay in the eyes of anyone out there paying attention, but a clear motive can be seen here in black and white: Impending rise of food costs.

The term ‘food crimes’ is a broad statement and could mean many things, specifically crimes involving the distribution of illegalized foods in certain regions because of trade laws (restrictions and the such), the substitution of certain products in those foods with certain other ones that perhaps haven’t been accepted by the FDA and the like, or are possibly counterfeit…and the list most certainly goes on.

But in the case of this piece, we’ll be looking at the specific branch of food crimes related to the theft and burglary of food items, and if you’re wondering, such crimes have been steadily on the rise.

With food costs on the rise, crime and food crimes specifically was always likely to rise as well…

CNN reports that between January 2022 and January 2023, the cost of groceries has increased by 11.3%.

In Canada, the average food cost for a woman in the age range of 19 to 30 was set at $297 in 2022—that would span a month, according to a report at moneysense.ca.

The issue here is that despite these costs, companies are now willing to put pauses on the price of food, but not to lower them in any way, also according to CNN (link above). This has caused a massive lack of support from consumers and has caused many to question government leaders and subsequently grocery store chains supplying the population in North America.

It was just last week that members of Parliament in Canada took some hard-hitting questions to the CEO of Loblaw, Galen Weston Jr.—Loblaw being a massive grocery store conglomerate…parliament asking the questions everyone wanted answers to. If revenues hit the $3 billion mark for the company over the course of a year, then why are groceries still so expensive?

Fair enough, many would say.

“1 million dollars a day in excess profits…” is being made by Weston’s company, according to comments by NDP leader Jagmeet Singh…

It was uncomfortable to watch, but really, the whole deal has been uncomfortable, because in times like these even those that are in a higher salary bracket are having issues with weekly and monthly grocery bills, so answers to these questions and others should be forthcoming, but they are not.

It’s clearly getting harder to feed the mouths of family members and the situation is growing tense and tenser by the minute, and there are still no proper answers on the horizon.

Just imagine those in a lower salary class range. Where do they turn when they can’t afford food for their babies, pets and themselves? Evidently to a life of crime.

It was in Kitchener, Ontario this week that two men were caught and charged after robbing a food delivery driver, they committed the crime by way of a knife.

They took no money. All they stole was the entirety of the food delivery order the man had on him. Once they got the food, they fled the scene, food in tow, reports CTV News. The delivery man was otherwise uninjured.

It was in November of 2021 that the Hamilton Spectator ran a piece that showed that food theft, the specific branch of food crimes in question here, was on the rise and specifically because of the huge jump in grocery and food prices.

But as is now the case with many issues plaguing the world, there are more questions than there are answers. Crazy times indeed, folks, and with political leader and captains of industry still more worried about the mighty earnings for themselves, the rest of the public is left in limbo and left to suffer the consequences.

Stay safe out there, folks.