By
Annabelle Jackman
John
Coveney knows a thing or two about making healthy food choices at the
supermarket.
The
Australian professor has just completed a study that reveals healthy food is an
expensive option for consumers, no matter where they shop.
“It’s
not got anything to do with the price of food, it’s got to do with
affordability of food and that’s the most unequal thing,” he said.
His research found in a high income household, only 9 percent of income was spent
on fresh healthy food.
But
that same amount of food consumes up to a third of a low income household's
budget and that makes for stressed out shoppers making bad food choices.
While
some have suggested removing GST from healthy food would encourage people to
buy more the Government does not believe that is viable and has already ruled it
out.
Claire
Smith has been studying New Zealand family's food choices and says many
low income households are choosing cheaper and less healthy options in their
weekly grocery shop.
“I
think what we need to do is find solutions for those households that are
struggling financially and I think at the moment we don't have enough research
about what’s going to work best for those,” Ms Smith said.
Ms
Smith says in the last year, more than three quarters of low income households
have worried about where their next meal will come from and how it'll be paid
for.
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