The evidence is in: The cost to eat healthy food is rising faster than less beneficial, more processed foods.
Different factors have contributed to food price inflation – but new research shows some produce is costing Kiwis more than others.
Data from 2014 to 2023 found prices of processed food rose by 14%, compared to fruit and vegetables which jumped by 45% in the same period.
Lincoln University agricultural economics professor Alan Renwick said this shows inflation was not being felt evenly.
Speaking to Breakfast this morning, Renwick said the study categorised food into three groups: Sweet food, processed food, and fruit and vegetables.
“The relative prices between what we may say are unhealthy foods and healthy foods has changed over time, making the unhealthy foods perhaps more affordable, relative to healthy foods.”
Renwick added, as a result, people were more likely to choose the cheaper option, and make less healthy decisions in order to spend less money, particularly in a time where budgets are already stretched.
While food prices have come down across the board, Renwick said “shocks” to the system which can cause food price increases “might become more of a norm”.
As a result, he said there may be more times when affording the essentials was a challenge – and people would make less healthy food decisions.
“If we are buying more of the unhealthy food, there is a very direct relationship between diet and health and a very proven relationship that we can begin to have challenges of obesity, then obesity leads to a range of problems around diabetes, cardiac problems… a very big proportion of our health challenges come from food…”
Renwick said how to adress this issue was a “big question”.
He suggested one option could be intervention in the market, such as implementing a sugar tax or fruit and vegetable subsidies to prompt people to “make better decisions”.
“There’s no point putting a fruit and vegetable subsidy on if people don’t really know how to use fruit and vegetables and they haven’t had them in their diet … we need the education.”
Another option, Renwick said, was to consider the kinds of messaging people were receiving through the promotion of unhealthy foods.
“What we find is countries that have been more successful in tackling some of these diet and health problems that they’ve had have taken what we’d call a multi-pronged approach. They’ve used soft approaches such as education; they’ve used influencing decisions such as financial taxes [and] subsidies; but they’ve also used regulation in the food industry.”
