The recent cost of living crisis incentivised more sustainable food consumption however longer-term price trends have had the opposite effect, according to new research.
Researchers set out to discover whether price increases seen between 2021 and 2023, when the cost of living crisis was at its peak, have incentivised sustainable food consumption or effectively served as a barrier for the transition to sustainability.
Their working hypothesis was that if the price of products in a healthy and sustainable diet decreases relative to other food items included in the basket, then consumers will be incentivised to purchase these products.
They found that throughout the cost of living crisis in 2021-2023, prices of products contributing to a healthy and sustainable diet became relatively cheaper versus other food items, however this is set against a longer-term trend for such products to have increased in price markedly between 2015 and 2023 relative to non-sustainable product alternatives.
Low prices for meat products have reinforced this overall unsustainable consumption trend, with meat-free alternatives and eco-labelled products tending to be more expensive than meat products.
The research was published in the Journal of Environmental Management. Researchers tracked prices of food products included in the UK consumer price inflation basket over a nine-year period and developed two indices: the environmental impact price index and nutrition impact price index to monitor the affordability of a healthy and sustainable diet. The indices provided a means of assessing the impact of changing prices on the nutritional value and sustainability of different food products.
They concluded that behaviour change interventions to move consumers towards healthier and more sustainable diets should focus on price as a longer-term tool.
They added that proactive policies are also needed to shift consumption habits, such as category-wide environmental labelling showing meat and dairy products as high impact and fruit and vegetables as low impact, and even a meat tax.
