The thefts in Britain’s supermarkets broke last year every recordas 1.1 million incidents have been recorded as announced yesterday Thursday by the British Association of Grocers (ACS), attributing the fact to the economic crisis but mainly to criminals.

The items most frequently stolen from supermarkets are “meat, alcoholic beverages, confectionery, items of high value that can be resold,” notes the ACS report, which estimates that most incidents are “either people who are addicted to alcohol or drugs or organized crime groups”.

In supermarkets and grocery stores consumers are now used to seeing anti-theft in basic food products, mainly meat. Besides, stores that sell cosmetics avoid placing make-up items on the shelves because of the frequent thefts.

“The level of theft that retailers experience every day is unprecedented,” commented James Lowman, CEO of ACS.

Although he admitted that the cost of living crisis has contributed to an increase in theft incidents, most of which “are not due to people in trouble, but to organized crime groups or people who steal to finance their drug or alcohol addiction. This cannot continue,” he stressed.

Inflation It persists in Britain, the highest among the G7 countries, and remained in May at 8.7% on an annual basis causing a deep cost of living crisis.