Survey says: Canadians asking for better food systems and food sparked by COVID-19 access

Shopping anxiety, higher food prices and individual income limitations are some of the factors making access to food challenging for Canadians during the COVID-19 pandemic, a new study suggests. Researchers conducted an online inter-provincial survey with residents of B.C. Alberta, Ontario, Quebec and the Atlantic provinces during the first wave of COVID-19. The survey assessed how the pandemic affected food access and behaviour in each region and how perceptions regarding the food systems may have been altered. The study revealed that while most Canadians have not found it difficult to access food during the pandemic, many consumers are worried about shopping in grocery stores. In Quebec, about one in five respondents said their income was too limited or food was too expensive, and 15 per cent said they were too worried or anxious to go out and purchase food. For respondents in Ontario and Alberta, anxiety about going out to purchase food was the biggest limiting factor (28 per cent), while limited income or food being too expensive was an issue for 21 per cent of Albertan and 18 per cent of Ontarian respondents. High rates of infection, income concerns drive Quebec shoppers online "In Quebec, which had experienced the highest COVID-19 case number in the country at the time of this investigation, we observed a tripling of the proportion of respondents who reported using online grocery methods during the pandemic period at 27 per cent, compared to 9 per cent in 2019," says Prof. Daiva Nielsen, an assistant professor in the School of Human Nutrition at McGill University.