M-P's on a House of Commons committee studying food inflation in Canada have heard from grocery executives.
Loblaw senior vice-president of retail finance Jodat Hussain disputed an accusation that grocery giants are taking advantage of inflation to drive up their own profits.
Hussain told M-Ps on the agriculture committee that food prices have been rising because of higher costs incurred by suppliers.
He says Loblaw pushes back on suppliers when they do propose raising prices, citing its disagreement with Frito-Lay over the price of potato chips, which led to empty shelves during the dispute.
The rising cost of groceries has become a hot-button issue in politics, with food prices up 11 per cent in October compared with a year earlier.
Relief isn't expected to come any time soon.
The committee will hold another meeting on food inflation on December 12th.