Dayan Yehuda Steiner, of the Manchester Beth Din, has told the Jewish Telegraph that for many products there is "no reason for the prices to be crazy high".

He said: "From inside information I have, there are certain products that incur no extra costs to be declared kosher-for-Pesach and the customer is still facing astronomical prices.

"For products like toothpaste, which incurs extra cost because most glucose in Europe is made with flour so we have to travel further and do extra checks, the price is right.

"In other cases, there might be slightly extra work, but not enough to put the price up so much."

But Richard Hyman, proprietor of Titanics, defended Pesach prices and blamed Tesco for "trying to destroy the market".

He added: "The problem is that people look at what Tesco does with Rakusen's matzo and see how it's dropped the prices dramatically to make it look like the smaller local shops are ripping people off.

"But this isn't the case and it's actually the other way round.

"Pesach is not a good time of year for any retailer because of Tesco and we have to accept a big loss when selling matzo just to compete."

He continued: "Last year there were massive price increases because the pound was down and the dollar was up, but at Titanics we always try and give the fairest prices possible.

"The prices of the products that we manufacture ourselves don't change at all during Pesach."

And Moishe Kaufman, of Haber's World, insisted that "the extra price comes from the suppliers, not from the shopkeepers.

He added: "People need to ask the suppliers why they put the prices up, not the shopkeepers.

"I don't know what the Pesach prices will be like this year."