
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, July 28, 1990                   TAG: 9007280117
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

FOOD COSTS DOWN 0.4 FOR MONTH

Food costs dropped a slight 0.4 percent this month but are up 4.8 percent compared with a year ago, according to a new survey of Roanoke area supermarkets. The Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services said its monthly Market Basket survey of food prices showed a typical 40-item order of groceries cost $74.76 this month in Roanoke stores, down from $75.05 in June but up from $71.34 in July 1989.

Similar surveys in Richmond showed the food items cost $77.47 this month, down 2 percent from June and up 3.8 percent from a year ago; in Hampton Roads cost $73.38 this month, off 3.4 percent from June and down 1.6 percent in the year; and in Northern Virginia cost $74.91, down 5.9 percent for the month and down 2.9 percent from a year ago.

- Staff report

by CNB