Achi news desk-
A new study finds that one in five Canadians believe they got sick as a result of eating unsafe food because they didn’t want to throw it out.
More than half of the 9,000 people surveyed by the Dalhousie Agri-Food Analytics Laboratory say they are willing to eat food that was close to or past its best before date.
“Fifty-eight percent are actually more tempted to eat produce that is close to or past its best before date, more so than last year, as a result of higher food prices,” says Sylvain Charlebois, director of the laboratory analytics. City News. “That’s certainly one number that surprised us. It is much higher than expected.”
It is important to remember that a best before date is not an expiry date. Food that has passed its best before date may be edible but will not necessarily retain freshness, taste or nutritional value. But Charlebois says it’s still a risk, one that more Canadians are taking. He says it may be a positive aspect that Canadians are producing less food waste, but given the affordability crisis, it reflects that some people don’t have money for fresher food.
“Statistics Canada came out with new numbers this week on retail sales and if you look at food sales per capita, it’s still down at $243 per capita,” said Charlebois. “That’s the lowest it’s been for many years.”
Food Banks Canada says they are not surprised by the study. Statistics Canada’s Canadian Income Survey, released on Friday, shows a similar situation. Statscan found that 23 per cent – or almost nine million Canadians – will live in food insecure households in 2022, an increase of almost 1.8 million people from the previous year. It marked the second consecutive year of growth since the pandemic began.
Food Banks Canada’s own figures also show a sharp increase in the use of food banks.
“We see that people are struggling. We’re seeing, through more visits, we’re seeing that because of more need,” said Richard Matern, director of research for Food Banks Canada.
“This confirms what we saw a year ago, when the use of food banks reached its highest levels. We saw two million visits in just one month last year which is the highest we’ve ever seen, which is a 30 per cent increase on the previous year, and an increase of almost 80 per cent on the pre-pandemic period.”
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