What Does Wegmans Sell for $999 Per Pound?

The produce section in a supermarket isn't typically a place to find high-end luxuries. But in the corner of the Malvern Wegmans produce section, black truffles, imported from Italy, are kept under lock and key (see photo at right).

Located next to other, less expensive mushrooms, the rare, renowned fungi sell for $999.99 per pound.

A CBS news segment (video) July 2012 called truffles "the most expensive food in the world."

The price of truffles has risen sharply as global supply plummets, possibly due to climate change, according a December 2012 article in the New York Times:

There are various reasons for what has been a decline over decades in the harvest of black truffles from southern France, Spain and Italy, including shrinking forests and changes in land use. In France alone, the annual black truffle harvest has fallen from about 1,000 tons in the 1930s to about 50 tons now.