London: The European Union too jumped into the US bandwagon today to target India and China for driving food prices worldwide, saying the huge increase in demand in these two countries was like an "elephant".

European Union Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural development Mariann Fischer Boel said change in dietary habits in India and China was responsible for spiralling global food prices.

"Those who see biofuels as the driving force behind recent food price increases have overlooked not just one elephant standing right in front of them, but two," she said.

"The first elephant is the huge increase in demand from emerging countries like China and India. These countries are eating more meat," she said.

The top EU official's comments came days after US President George W Bush joined US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in blaming the rising prosperity of India s huge middle class for the spiralling global food prices.

Biofuels were not to blame for the rise in prices, Fischer Boel said in a speech at the European Policy Centre, a Brussels-based think-tank.

"It takes about 4 kg of cereals to produce 1 kg of pork, and about 2 kg of cereals to make 1 kg of poultry meat. So a dietary shift towards meat in countries with populations of over 1 billion people each has an enormous impact on commodity markets," she said.

Source : PTI