The three baskets
The Canadian Food Inflation Index publishes three baskets per ADR-0013 v4 (2026-06-06), superseding the v1 catch-all basics basket. The three published baskets are food_combined, food_stores, food_restaurants. Every basket carries its own snapshot file with NSA (not seasonally adjusted) and SA (seasonally adjusted) series.
food_combined (headline)
The default reading. The combined Food rollup aggregates groceries and restaurants under one published headline. Statistics Canada publishes both NSA (Table 18-10-0004-01) and SA (Table 18-10-0006) for the combined Food component, so this basket carries StatsCan-published SA — the most authoritative seasonal adjustment available.
Use this when: you want one headline number for Canadian food-price inflation across all consumer channels. This is the basket every press headline and AI Overview citation should point at unless the reader explicitly asks for a sub-basket breakdown.
food_stores (groceries)
Food purchased from stores. StatsCan publishes the NSA series; SA is derived in-house via X-13ARIMA-SEATS because StatsCan does not publish SA for this sub-basket. The derivation matches StatsCan's own X-13 spec version (cross-repo parity Check 12 keeps them in lockstep).
Use this when: you want the grocery-cart half of the story. Useful for retail / CPG analysis where eating-out spend is out of scope.
food_restaurants (eating out)
Food purchased from restaurants — dine-in plus takeout. NSA from StatsCan; SA derived in-house via X-13ARIMA-SEATS, same shape as food_stores.
Use this when: you want the foodservice half of the story. Useful for QSR / casual-dining analysis where grocery spend is out of scope.
NSA vs SA — when does it matter
NSA (not seasonally adjusted) is the raw monthly series. It carries seasonal patterns — e.g., produce prices rise in winter. SA (seasonally adjusted) removes the known calendar pattern so a month-over-month change reflects only the non-seasonal signal.
- For headlines: use NSA. It is the published authoritative series.
- For trend analysis: use SA. The seasonal decomposition lets you compare two consecutive months without the calendar noise.
API
Every basket is available at every endpoint via the basket query parameter. The default is food_combined.
GET https://canadianfoodindex.ca/api/v1/inflation-index/series?period=2026-04&basket=food_stores
GET https://canadianfoodindex.ca/api/v1/inflation-index/series?period=2026-04&basket=food_restaurants
GET https://canadianfoodindex.ca/api/v1/inflation-index/series?period=2026-04&basket=food_combinedRead next
- How the Index is calculated — step-by-step math walkthrough.
- Full methodology pillar — formal version with derivation matrix + ADR changelog.
- About the Index — editorial posture.
Looking for something else?
- For shoppers (in progress)
Why grocery prices changed this month, where prices are highest, and what the headline number means in real-life basket terms.
- For business (in progress)
Free B2B inflation index for CPG brands, retailers, and pricing analysts. JSON + CSV + OData; source attribution on every reading.
- For press (in progress)
Monthly Canadian food inflation readings with reproducible math and citable source attribution. Embed charts and quotes.
- For researchers (in progress)
Open methodology + raw monthly levels per basket. Dataset JSON-LD on every page; X-13ARIMA-SEATS seasonal adjustment derivation documented.
- For educators (in progress)
Index design walkthroughs for stats / data / journalism / economics classrooms. Three-baskets diagram and worked-example calculator.