Rome, Aug 26 - Italy's biggest consumer groups are urging Italians to hold off buying bread on Sept. 18, in a one-day "loaf strike" to express their anger over surging food prices and spur the government to action.
"The alarming economic crisis affecting Italy is making families poorer than ever and calls for a hard fight, a defiant stance and participation by all," consumer group Codacons, one of four major groups backing the strike, said in a statement.
"The consistent surge in prices, mainly of basic foods, continues to impoverish and exhaust citizens."
The price of pasta jumped more than 30 percent in June, while the price of bread rose more than 13 percent, Italy's Treasury said last week, sparking fresh alarm over the surge.
The groups, who held a one-day pasta strike last year over a spike in the price of the beloved Italian staple, estimate the rise in food and energy prices will force Italian families to fork out an additional 2,000 euros ($2,953) this year.
The consumer groups, which blame speculators for preying on consumers and the government for failing to protect them, said they also planned to hold protests in town squares throughout Italy to accompany the bread strike.
But Italian breadmakers were not impressed.
"Anyone can open their own breadshop and check directly how much breadmakers really earn," the Italian Federation of Breadmakers said in response.