OTTAWA - Low income and unemployed Canadians say they are feeling the pinch from rising food prices, according to a new poll.

The Canadian Press Harris-Decima survey suggests 46 per cent of Canadians believe rising food prices have had either major (14 per cent) or minor (32 per cent) impact in the way they shop for groceries.

The changed behaviour is much more prevalent among the unemployed and those making less than $40,000 a year, where 52 per cent said their grocery shopping habits are undergoing a "major" change.

The survey found that 41 per cent of Canadians said that they have made minor or major changes to the amount of food they can afford to buy.

And 78 per cent believed high food prices were here to stay for some time.

The telephone survey of 1,000 Canadians was conducted between May 1 and May 4 and is considered accurate plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.