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The Canadian Centre for Food Integrity (CCFI) recently released its 2023 Public Trust Research Report revealing consumer perceptions of Canada’s food and agri-food industry, and views on issues such as rising food costs, food safety and transparency.
Here are four key highlights.
1. Rising food costs are top of mind with Canadians.
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50% of consumers polled said they are very concerned about the affordability of healthy food. That compares to 47% in 2022 and just 28% in 2020.
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54% of Canadians say the cost of food is their number one concern, while 41% say they are most concerned with the affordability of healthy food.
2. Canadians are changing their habits due to higher food costs.
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45% say they are reducing food waste; 42% are cooking more meals at home; and 37% are buying less food. Other changes include buying more frozen food (23%), and changing grocery stores (21%) and recipes (14%).
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60% of respondents say they’re interested in learning how to spend less on food.
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50% say they look up online information about spending less on food.
3. Consumers are focused on issues such as food, health and housing rather than big-picture concerns such as the economy, and are increasingly linking food and health.
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44% of Canadians are very concerned about health care, up from 37% in 2022.
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54% of consumers say they engage with information about nutrition and healthy eating.
4. Consumers show overall trust in our agri-food system, but want more transparency.
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34% of Canadians say the food system is heading in the right direction, although 41% say they are unsure.
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Canadians have a moderate level of trust when it comes to food safety, with only 26% saying they are very concerned about food safety overall, compared to 30% last year.
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41% of consumers believe supply chain costs are to blame for rising food costs, down from 56% the previous year.
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34% feel food costs are higher because businesses want to increase their profits. That compares to 20% in 2022.
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Transparency scores have decreased significantly since 2018, especially around misinformation, with 62% saying they are concerned about misleading food labels or descriptions for marketing, and 33% saying they are very concerned.
Click here to download the full report.