July 4, 2007 – Local and regional products are popular with Canadian consumers. By comparison, organic and fair-trade foods represent only a marginal market share – even if it is growing.
This is what reveals a pan-Canadian survey on responsible eating, carried out by the Équiterre group.1, in collaboration with the survey firm Léger Marketing.
According to the results, many Canadians (77%) say they make an effort to buy local. They even say they are prepared (72%) to pay more for these products. In total, 85% of respondents say it is important to buy local products. And they do it for various reasons: to encourage regional producers (84%), to simply eat local products (57%) or to do something ecological (42%).
Those who buy locally consume mainly products that are little or not processed: vegetables (84%), fruits (79%), eggs (70%), milk and dairy products (65%), chicken (63%) and red meat (55 %).
Organic = $$$
Organic products seem to have an image problem. On the one hand, they are considered to be healthy (59%), ecological (45%) and of good quality (34%) On the other hand, consumers of organic food are portrayed as: “granola” (42% ), “in” people (40%) or vegetarians (39%).
No less than 24% of respondents consider those who buy organic food to be rich people. Price is also the main obstacle to the growth of organic products: 82% of respondents who consume little or no organic find their price too high.
A quarter of organic consumers say they buy organic products for their health benefits and the same proportion consider doing so for ecological reasons.
Fair trade is the least well-known sector of responsible food due to the limited availability and accessibility of its products. Almost 40% of survey participants were unable to explain why they buy or have ever bought fair trade.
Claudia Morissette – HealthPassport.net
1 The survey was conducted in March 2007 in all Canadian provinces. with 1,662 respondents.
2. To consult the Équiterre survey: www.equiterre.org. [Consulté le 30 juin 2007.]
