Global food prices stable but still high - World Bank

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Global food prices remained stable, though close to 2008 record levels, the World Bank said on Thursday, as it warned that a "new norm" of costlier food was setting in and threatening to increase hunger and malnutrition in the world's poorer regions.

In an update of its quarterly "Food Price Watch" report, the World Bank said the absence of "panic policies," such as food export restrictions, had helped stabilize commodity prices since price spikes in July.