Garlic bread — it’s the future, says ONS

The bread so loved by comedian Peter Kay — garlic bread — replaces pitta bread in the latest revision of the basket of goods used by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) to compile the Retail Prices (RPI) and Consumer Prices (CPI) Indexes.

The ONS’ basket is updated annually as part of a process of continual improvement and to ensure that it is representative of consumer spending patterns. Food and drink and new technology dominate the changes. Altogether 13 new items have been added to the basket, and 13 items removed.

Other new food items are cereal bars and frozen fish in breadcrumbs or batter. And fruit drink in a bottle replaces fruit drink in a carton and a small bottle of still mineral water replaces a fizzy canned drink.

Blue-ray disc players and computer games with accessories are added to the shopping basket, while the disposable camera is disposed of.

Lip gloss and liquid soap replace lipstick and a bar of soap respectively, while electrical hair straighteners are in and hairdryers out.

And for parents, baby food is replaced by powdered baby formula to reflect the relative spending on the two products.

www.statistics.gov.uk/articles/nojournal/CPI_and_RPI_The_2010_Basket_of_Goods_and_Services.pdf