Pensioners go without fresh food as Woolworths boss Brad Banducci checks out

Older Australians are being forced to go without meat, fish and fresh vegetables thanks to sky-high supermarket prices that some say have pushed them to the brink of financial despair.

Cutting out coffee at a café, buying non-perishables in bulk and not even thinking about a holiday were other ways over-50s said they were coping with the rising cost of groceries, a new survey has found.

The revelations came in the wake of under-fire Woolworths CEO Brad Banducci resigning from the supermarket giant just days after his trainwreck interview with Four Corners.

Mr Banducci attempted to walk out of the interview after he was grilled on the supermarket’s pricing and product practices.

Those business practices were laid bare in a survey the Council on the Ageing (COTA) conducted last month, which asked older Australians about supermarket prices.

The more than 1400 responses painted a grim picture about the pain being felt among older generations.

“Supposedly we are not in recession, but now most weeks it surely feels like it and this feeling grows when I look at our main meal for the day. Where’s the meat? The fish? The fresh vegies?” one survey respondent said.

About 80 per cent of survey respondents admitted to making “major” changes to purchasing habits and lifestyle decisions to deal with the price hikes.

This included eating more processed and frozen food and cutting out discretionary spending — even dinner at a restaurant to celebrate a special occasion.

Others included limiting social events that cost money, buying fewer gifts for family and friends and not even considering — letting alone taking — a holiday.

“They (older people) are cutting back overall, they are eating less fresh fruit and vegetables, they are making difficult decisions – and they can’t easily get to places where they might be able to get things more cheaply,” COTA chief executive Patricia Sparrow told The West.

The survey respondents put forward ideas to help customers, including a Government-sponsored “shopping card” that would hand pensioners and low-income earners 20 per cent off groceries, toiletries and basic household items.

Supermarkets that accepted the card would be eligible for tax concessions, according to the suggestion.

More than 90 per cent of respondents indicated food and grocery prices were affecting their fortnightly shop and financial planning, with two-thirds saying this was harming their psychological and emotional health.

The alarming survey findings are detailed in COTA’s submission to the Senate inquiry into supermarket prices.

The peak body for over-50s said the price increases were “deepening a sense of despondency” among older Australians, raising fears that a quality of life once taken for granted would be lost forever.

The Senate probe is one of three inquiries underway into the under-fire sector, with former Labor minister Craig Emerson examining the grocery code of conduct and the ACCC probing price practices.

The supermarket giants were back in the headlines this week after a Four Corners expose that featured a train wreck interview from Woolworths boss Brad Banducci.

Woolworth on Wednesday announced Mr Banducci would retire in September — but insisted the departure wasn’t linked to the interview or political backlash to its decision not to stock Australia Day-branded merchandise ahead of January 26.

The feedback in the COTA survey is scathing about the conduct of the supermarket giants.

“We feel we are at the mercy of the supermarkets who care very little about us,” the respondent said.

“Have always shopped at Australian stores but feel they are taking advantage of us.”