USDA: Food prices will rise 5-7%

WASHINGTON Consumer food prices are going up 5 percent to 7percent this year, more sharply than had been predicted, theAgriculture Department said Friday.

The new forecast compared with the 3 percent to 5 percent pricehike the department has been predicting for 1990 since December.

Double-digit price gains in the first half of this year forfresh fruits, pork, eggs and dairy products, along with uncertaintiesabout future energy prices, are mostly to blame for the upwardrevision, said the department's Economic Research Service.

"However, most of the year's price increases probably took placein the first half," the agency said. "Gains in the second half …