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Do you ever find yourself standing at the supermarket checkout wondering why your food shop for just a few healthy items is so expensive?
Believe it or not, a healthy diet for a family of four costs over $600 per fortnight.
So, why is healthy food so expensive?
We speak with Deakin University Senior Research Fellow, Dr Christina Zorbas, to understand why healthy food costs us so much. From manufacturing costs to product placement in supermarkets, we unpack why healthy food is so costly.
It all starts at the source.
When we think about what it takes to source and stock healthy food, the process will generally involve crops, livestock, or a garden.
‘Healthy food is grown by someone; it’s picked by someone and it’s very labour intensive to produce, and eventually get on the supermarket shelf,’ says Dr Zorbas.
While the unhealthy foods we pick at the supermarket are often packaged and factory made, it’s a process that involves less human labour and cheap ingredients, which can reduce the overall cost.
‘Junk food is manufactured in a factory, they’re putting fat, salt, and sugar in it and it can remain on the shelf for years. Because it can be manufactured at a high volume, it makes the production much cheaper than healthy food,’ she explains.
Consuming fruit and vegetables on a regular basis is an easy way to maintain a healthy diet. However, this can be difficult with the current cost of these options.
‘Healthy food is too expensive in this country. For people on lower incomes, their supermarket shop can cost 30% of their disposable income which pushes them to these cheaper unhealthy options.’
Dr Zorbas suggests that in the last 5 years, three Cs have led us to the current high cost of fruit and vegetables: the COVID-19 pandemic, international conflict, and the climate crisis.
‘The COVID-19 pandemic totally disrupted food supply chains, which made things more expensive to distribute. Next, we had international conflict; international war driving up the cost of fertiliser, which made it more expensive to grow healthy foods. Lastly is the climate crisis, which is the impact weather events like droughts and floods have on our crops,’ she explains.
Location also plays a huge role in how much we pay for our groceries. One of the biggest factors driving up the cost of healthy food is simply how far it has to travel.
‘In regional areas, there might be a smaller supermarket which has to set the cost for healthy food like fruit and vegetables at an expensive price because of the logistics costs to get the foods out there.’
The government has the ability to shape how foods end up on our plates.
Dr Zorbas says the government is always looking at ways in which they can enhance their assistance. There’s currently a national food security strategy in progress.
‘The government is putting together a national food security strategy called “Feeding Australia”, which is looking at feeding every Australian fairly,’ she says.
They are also banning supermarket price gouging and making sure prices for basic foods are capped in some remote areas.
Thanks to specific government policies like JobSeeker, healthy food also becomes more affordable for people who are doing it toughest.
‘One thing a government can do is increase incomes. We see this with JobSeeker, because we know that food affordability involves the price, but also your income that allows you to afford the healthy food,’ Dr Zorbas explains.
The removal of GST is another way the government helps make healthy food more accessible.
Have you ever picked out a couple of healthy items at the supermarket, only to realise you could get more food for half the price if you chose unhealthy options like a bag of chips or a chocolate bar?
Dr Zorbas says you’re not alone.
‘In a study I did once, a participant once told me, “Why would I get hummus, carrots, celery at an expensive price of $7 when I could get a bag of chips on special for $2.50?” Those are the choices a lot of people are making at supermarkets.’
The online supermarket shop is another way you can get caught out.
If you’re browsing online, it’s likely you’ll see a half-price tub of ice cream or a packet of chips at $2.50 pop up.
‘We did a study on price promotions and specials looking at junk foods and unhealthy drinks. We found that the unhealthy options were on special twice as much as the healthy options and discounted to a much greater degree. They are pretty hard to avoid,’ says Dr Zorbas.
Supermarkets are designed much like casinos; they rarely have clocks or windows, and if they do have windows, they’re often at the front of the store near the exit.
‘With the lack of windows and the music, it’s all designed to keep you engaged in your shopping experience,’ says Dr Zorbas.
It’s not just the atmosphere that’s curated. The product placement of everyday essentials follows the same logic.
We can all relate to that ‘where’s the milk?’, or ‘where’s the bread?’ feeling at a supermarket we haven’t been to before.
Milk and bread are often in the corners and often you have to walk through the supermarket to get to them. Dr Zorbas says this isn’t a coincidence; supermarkets know what they’re doing.
‘They’re trying to sell products and they’re trying to make profits. When we walk through the supermarket, the layout is pushing us towards buying unhealthy things more than the healthy things.’
Dr Zorbas says the four Ps of marketing play a role in this as well. These include:
‘With the price of food, they might price promote things or set low prices and sway people to buy those things. Products themselves can be created to be very palatable and tasty as we know with chocolate and lollies.’
You may have also weighed up whether to grab that $1.50 chocolate at the checkout. This is a perfect example of the supermarkets trying to rope you in with product placement.
‘Things are put on the shelf in the supermarket as end of aisle displays, or as you go to the checkout there might be a few more things that you can pick up on the way out.’
Healthy eating shouldn’t be so expensive, difficult and out of reach. Yet for many Australians, it still is. It’s clear the way we value food today and change some of the things that make it so hard to eat healthy, will shape the health of our nation tomorrow.
Senior Research Fellow, Faculty of Health/School of Health and Social Development/Institute for Health Transformation.
