Food prices hit a record high last month, surpassing the levels seen during the 2007-08 crisis, the UN's Food and Agricultural Organisation said yesterday.

The organisation said the spike was not a crisis, but Abdolreza Abbassian, senior economist at the FAO, said the situation was "alarming" and that "It will be foolish to assume this is the peak."

The jump will increase fears about the repetition of the crisis of 2007-2008. However, poor countries have not so far seen the wave of food riots that rocked countries such as Haiti and Bangladesh two years ago, when agricultural commodities prices jumped.

The increase in food costs will also hit developed economies, with companies from McDonalds to Kraft raising retail prices. Higher food prices are also boosting overall inflation, which is above the preferred targets of central banks in Europe.

The FAO said its food price index, a basket tracking the wholesale cost of commodities such as wheat, corn, rice, oilseeds, dairy products, sugar and meats, jumped last month of 214.7 points -- up almost 4.2 per cent from November.

The FAO food index is at its highest since it started calculating the measure in 1990. During the 2007-08 food crisis, the index reached a peak of 213.5 in June 2008.