1152 GMT - While July's pickup in headline inflation in the U.K. was expected, much more surprising was just how benign food inflation, ING's James Smith says in a note. Prices were flat on month, having fallen in on-month terms in the two prior readings, "something that is highly unusual," he says. Producer prices even point to negative annual food inflation, though that is less likely as it was always going to take at least a year for the full effects of the Iran War to show up, Smith says. Nevertheless, the data is welcome news for some Bank of England policymakers, who point to the influential role of food prices in setting household inflation expectations, he says.