Competition between supermarkets in September led to the first monthly drop in food prices for more than two years.
The British Retail Consortium (BRC)-NielsenIQ Shop Price Index showed that prices last month were down 0.1% compared with August.
Dairy items, fish and vegetables — all typically own-brand lines — were among the products that cost less compared to the previous month.
Meanwhile, the annual rate of food inflation fell for the fifth consecutive month as cost pressures eased. Food prices rose by 9.9% in the year to September, down from a rate of 11.5% in August.
Overall shop price inflation — which also includes non-food products — decelerated to the lowest level for a year at 6.2% in September, down from 6.9% in August.
BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson said that price rises are expected to continue to slow over the rest of the year.
“However there are still many risks to this trend — high interest rates, climbing oil prices, global shortages of sugar, as well as the supply chain disruption from the war in Ukraine,” she added.
