Sumber : foodandwine, Stephanie Gravalese. 16 may 2025

Eggs, meat, and poultry prices rose over 9% in most major U.S. cities — nearly triple the overall inflation rate. A new report shows how sharply food inflation is diverging from the broader economy, reshaping grocery habits across the country.

According to a SmartAsset analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data, price increases for essential proteins like eggs and chicken far outpaced the national inflation average of just 3.5%.While overall grocery inflation varied from city to city, one pattern stood out: the sharp, sustained rise in prices for protein staples. Across nearly all the metros in the study, meat, poultry, eggs, and fish outpaced other food categories — even in cities where total grocery costs held steady or declined.

Grocery prices increased most dramatically in the Honolulu metro area, According to the report, prices rose 5.3% year-over-year, led by a 6.5% spike in cereals and bakery products and a 6.4% rise in fruits and vegetables. Protein staples were up a modest 4.9% in the region. Then Los Angeles, by contrast, saw the sharpest increases in protein-heavy categories. Prices for eggs, meat, poultry, and fish jumped 9.8%