By MATT SEDENSKY / AP, NEW YORK CITY
Tomatoes, ubiquitous in everything from fast-food burgers to haute cuisine, are taking on a new role beyond the plate: A nagging reminder of rising costs.Prices for the produce have soared more than any other food product over the past year to cement a spot as one of the consumer headaches du jour.“The tomato has become a symbol of something much deeper,” says Isaac Bernal Carbajo, a New York City chef who lamented life’s “simplest pleasures” falling victim to price increases. “Something as basic as buying fresh vegetables is starting to become a serious financial decision for many families.”
Tomatoes await customers on the shelves of a supermarket in New York on May 26.
Tomato prices are up about 40 percent over a year ago, according to the Consumer Price Index, dwarfing increases for other groceries, including coffee (up 18.5 percent), beef roasts (up 17.8 percent) and frozen fish and seafood (up 12 percent), among other products that have become symbols of America’s affordability squeeze.A separate inflation gauge released Thursday showed that overall prices increased 3.8 percent in April from a year earlier, the highest reading in about three years.
