Soaring food prices could have major impact on Canadians' health

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Food prices have soared to their highest rates in almost half a century, leaving many Canadians feeling more financial pressure at the checkout line and eating less healthy food to save money — something that could lead to serious impacts on our health.

Canada is now in the grips of a growing food insecurity crisis, with many low-income and fixed-income households faced with the difficult decision to either pay their bills or put food on the table at a time when even the price of staple items has skyrocketed. 

Prices on food purchased from grocery store shelves shot up by 11.4 per cent in September — the fastest annual increase in 41 years.

The price of fresh fruit went up by 12.9 per cent, fresh vegetables by 11.8 per cent, baked goods by 14.8 per cent and meat by 7.6 per cent — putting the healthy diet recommended in Canada's Food Guide further out of reach for many Canadians. 

"I'm a Type 2 diabetic and I also have hypertension as well, and so I'm supposed to eat a very healthy high fibre diet — well, that's not happening," said Tracy Ross, who lives on a fixed income on a disability pension in Spruce Grove, Alta., and struggles to afford groceries.

"The repercussions of all of this down the line, I don't even want to think about it. People's health issues are going to get worse, people are going to be dying. Our hospitals are already overworked and understaffed."

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Ross said she has also been finding it harder to pay her monthly utility bills due to the rapid rise in food prices, whereas previously she was able to keep up month-to-month. 

"So what, are you going to go cold or are you going to go hungry?" she told CBC News. "I need a new winter jacket — it ain't gonna happen this year."

Even the price of essentials have reached new heights, with a three-litre bottle of vegetable oil rising more than 40 per cent between August 2021 and August 2022 in Canada, topping the list of most expensive food items this year.

The number of Canadians using food banks across the country also reached record highs this year, with nearly 1.5 million visits in March, up 15 per cent over the same time last year and 35 per cent more than in March 2019, prior to the pandemic. 

More than 30 per cent of Canadians said they were eating less healthy food due to rising costs, while almost 20 per cent said they skipped meals to save money in a new national survey from the Canadian Hub for Applied and Social Research at the University of Saskatchewan.

The cost of feeding a family of four in Ottawa with healthy food rose more than 20 per cent during the pandemic to more than $1,000 a month, up from just over $900 in 2019, according to a new survey from Ottawa Public Health.