Food purchase behaviour in a Finnish population: patterns, carbon footprints and expenditures. Issue 11 (18th November 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Meinilä, Jelena; Hartikainen, Hanna; Tuomisto, Hanna L; Uusitalo, Liisa; Vepsäläinen, Henna; Saarinen, Merja; Kinnunen, Satu; Lehto, Elviira; Saarijärvi, Hannu; Katajajuuri, Juha-Matti; Erkkola, Maijaliisa; Nevalainen, Jaakko; Fogelholm, Mikael
• Is Part Of: Public health nutrition. Volume 25:Issue 11(2022)
• Page Start: 3265
• Page End: 3277
• Publication Date: 2022-11-18
• Subjects: Nutrition -- Greenhouse gas emission -- Diet -- Food consumption -- Environmental impact; Nutrition -- Periodicals; Nutrition policy -- Periodicals; Public health -- Periodicals; 613.2
• DOI: 10.1017/S1368980022001707
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1368-9800

Abstract

Abstract: Objective: To identify food purchase patterns and to assess their carbon footprint and expenditure. Design: Cross-sectional. Setting: Purchase patterns were identified by factor analysis from the annual purchases of 3435 product groups. The associations between purchase patterns and the total purchases' carbon footprints (based on life-cycle assessment) and expenditure were analysed using linear regression and adjusted for nutritional energy content of the purchases. Participants: Loyalty card holders ( n 22 860) of the largest food retailer in Finland. Results: Eight patterns explained 55 % of the variation in food purchases. The Animal-based pattern made the greatest contribution to the annual carbon footprint, followed by the Easy-cooking, and Ready-to-eat patterns. High-energy, Traditional and Plant-based patterns made the smallest contribution to the carbon footprint of the purchases. Animal-based, Ready-to-eat, Plant-based and High-energy patterns made the greatest contribution, whereas the Traditional and Easy-cooking patterns made the smallest contribution to food expenditure. Carbon footprint per euros spent increased with stronger adherence to the Traditional, Animal-based and Easy-cooking patterns. Conclusions: The Animal-based, Ready-to-eat and High-energy patterns were associated with relatively high expenditure on food, suggesting no economic barrier to a potential shift towards a plant-based diet for consumers adherent to those patterns. Strong adherence to the Traditional pattern resulted in a low energy-adjusted carbon footprint but high carbon footprint per euro. This suggests a preference for cheap nutritional energy rather than environment-conscious purchase behaviour. Whether a shift towards a plant-based pattern would be affordable for those with more traditional and cheaper purchase patterns requires more research.