Generation Next Thinking: What will shape the future of food?
The future of food isn’t about getting people to eat more, but helping them get more from every bite. At the same time, advances in technology—from cow-less dairy products to AI-powered meal suggestions—have the potential to transform how food is produced and sold. Here’s a look at what’s shaping the future of food and what it could mean for the industry.
The GLP-1 effect
GLP-1 drugs are changing what Canadians eat, creating a ripple effect across food retail. An estimated three million Canadians use the drugs, with weight loss cited as the top reason, according to a March 2026 survey by Leger Healthcare. With users reporting decreased appetites and fewer cravings, Leger said healthier consumption patterns are emerging. Fresh produce and protein-rich foods are up, while snacks, sugary drinks, alcohol and takeout are down.
OPINION: The food industry has always worried about inflation. It should now worry about appetite
“GLP-1s are a massive goalpost move,” says Howard Barrett, founder and president of Marketing Initiatives, a Montreal-based marketing and business development consultancy. He adds that the drugs are driving consumers toward smaller portions and foods packed with more nutrients, including protein. Barrett points to U.S. data from NielsenIQ indicating that longer-term users of GLP-1s shift towards nutrient-dense, minimally processed foods. After nearly a year on GLP-1s, the average dollar spend per household fell on categories such as pizza (-15%), potato chips (-8%) and bacon (down nearly 10%), while spending on beef, yogurt, strawberries and brussels sprouts shows double-digit increases. Meanwhile, spending on foods boasting 20 grams of protein per serving is up nearly 20% among long-term GLP-1 users.
“It’s impossible not to presume that the forces that are in play now won’t continue to grow and proliferate,” Barrett says. While GLP-1 usage is impacting sales in some categories, Barrett sees a potential upside: it could push CPGs to innovate on the health front. “If they have to add protein and make portion sizes more digestible for people, maybe there’s a silver lining.”
There’s also an opportunity to level up on taste. “In a GLP-1 world where everyone is eating less, you can’t afford to be the crappiest food in the aisle because people will drop you,” says Mike Lee, a Detroit-based food futurist and innovation consultant. “If you’re not selling the better product and you’re only selling the plentiful, cheap product, it’s going to be harder for you to manage those waters.”
Jo-Ann McArthur, president and founding partner of Toronto-based Nourish Food Marketing, says the concept of “GLP-1 friendly” food is gaining traction, with greater attention to portion control and nutrient density.
For major grocers, she says there’s an opportunity to better leverage data to support customers on GLP-1s. Loblaw Companies, for example, could connect data from its grocery business to Shoppers Drug Mart through the Optimum loyalty program. “For many people on these drugs, food becomes even more of a chore because you’re not getting as much enjoyment from it,” says McArthur. “If a grocer can provide meal planning, meal suggestions and auto replenishment, you’re going to get total ecosystem lockdown.”
New frontiers in protein
Protein production itself is poised to look very different. For Lenore Newman, a professor and director of the Food and Agriculture Institute at the University of the Fraser Valley in B.C., precision fermentation—or “making dairy without a cow”— is a food technology to watch. Precision fermentation uses microbes such as bacteria and yeast to produce the proteins and fats needed for dairy products. The technology has long been used to make an animal-free version of rennet (chymosin) in cheesemaking. In the future, it could be used to create dairy products such as ice cream, yogurt and cheese. “I think this technology is going to be a big part of our food system going forward,” says Newman.
Cellular agriculture, which involves growing animal cells in controlled environments, is another emerging technology, although commercialization of lab-grown meat remains a longer-term prospect.
“Will people be eating burgers grown in a vat a month from now? No. Ten years from now, it might be one of the options we have,” Newman says. “It would take pressure off a system that’s really strained. We just can’t produce animal products at the scale the world is asking for without destroying the planet’s ecosystem.” She envisions a future where cellular agriculture and precision fermentation do not replace conventional protein production, but work alongside it.
One example of cellular agriculture’s progress is Mosa Meat, a Dutch food technology company. Its founders unveiled a proof-of-concept lab-grown hamburger in 2013. Today, the company continues to advance the product and improve production efficiencies as it works toward commercialization.
In Canada, the path to commercialization is proving more difficult. Dana McCauley, CEO of the Canadian Food Innovation Network (CFIN), says while Canadian companies are doing important work, they’re struggling to attract investment. The sector also contends with pushback from commodity groups and “Frankenfood” perceptions among consumers. “A lot of innovators are still active … but they’re 10 or 20 feet into a 100-kilometre journey,” says McCauley.
What’s next in fresh
Fresh produce could increasingly be grown in places and ways that reshape produce aisles in Canada. The federal government’s new National Food Security Strategy earmarked $750 million over the next seven years to expand Canadian production of fresh fruits and vegetables through greenhouses and vertical farms, potentially making more locally grown produce available year-round.
Stewart Samuel, director of retail futures at IGD, says hyper-local fresh produce from vertical farms can play an important role in the food system, particularly in urban areas. He expects more grocers to feature their own in-store growing systems. “It does add a bit of theatre when people see it in store,” he says. However, he adds that the energy costs associated with vertical farming are a big challenge.
Beyond fast-growing crops such as lettuce, herbs and sprouts, CFIN’s McCauley sees an opportunity to grow more demanding crops such as eggplant, broccoli and fennel. “If we could have all those things grown here year-round, I think that would be really exciting.”
Technology could also give growers more control over the attributes of the produce itself. Newman notes that with gene-editing tools such as CRISPR, scientists can precisely target genetic changes. “We can create foods that will have positive health outcomes, for example, by raising protein or nutritional content with a little gene tweak,” she says.
More broadly, Newman says agriculture is increasingly focused on multiple outcomes, including nutrition, flavour, variety and cost—not just yield. “We’ve done great work on yield,” she says, “but now we’re asking what has that done to us, and do we need to look at other factors like flavour.”
On the consumer front, Newman observes a mindset shift from wanting access to cheap food to wanting to enjoy food. “People want their strawberries to taste like strawberries, and they want proper nutritional balance,” she says.
Food futurist Lee points to U.S.-based Row 7 Seed Company, co-founded by chef and restaurateur Dan Barber, as a flavour-first innovator. The company’s mission is to breed seeds for better flavour and nutrition. “For the longest time, farm-totable chefs would say they let the produce speak for itself—their job was to enhance it,” Lee says. “The innovation Row 7 brings is going one step up the chain and cooking, so to speak, at the genetic level.”
Lee believes the idea of growing better-tasting produce could eventually be scaled to commodity crops such as corn or carrots. “A lot of people think that a plain carrot is as good as it’s ever going to get,” Lee says. “And that’s why they buy the ranch dip.”
For grocers, the opportunity is to rethink how they sell fresh produce. “That’s their ace in the hole,” Lee says. “That’s the thing that’s harder for all the tech companies to drop on your lawn with a drone. There’s no reason to go into a grocery store for all the other packaged stuff.”
He adds that while fresh produce is probably the main reason people still walk into a physical grocery store, it’s often treated as an afterthought. “Produce is the only section of the grocery store that doesn’t speak to anyone,” Lee says. “Even a box of frozen peas you see does a better job at telling you something than fresh peas in the produce aisle. Not enough work has been done to sell it.”
Food gets personal—and purposeful
While technology is increasingly influencing the food system— from what is grown and how it’s produced to how it ends up on the shelf—it could simultaneously transform the retail consumer experience.
“I think the biggest shift we’ll see with AI in particular is how consumers decide what to buy,” says IGD’s Stewart. “The way consumers use AI today is typically to answer questions. But, as agentic AI develops, it will do tasks on behalf of consumers. For instance, we see it building baskets, comparing products, managing replenishment—actually making the routine purchase decisions on their behalf.” The challenge for brands and retailers is having to compete for recommendations made by AI systems rather than just competing for shelf space.
Hyper-personalized nutrition—driven by technology—could also play a big role. “Imagine a future scenario of someone going for a run, coming home and stepping on a body scale that measures a lot of different factors,” Stewart says. “It figures out that you’re low on a particular nutrient and then automatically orders a protein shake from a nearby store and it’s delivered within 30 minutes. It’s not inconceivable. All that technology exists today, in pockets. It will be interesting to see if someone is able to join the dots.”
For Nourish’s McArthur, AI represents “the great unlock” for personalized nutrition. “People have been talking about that for years, but with AI that opportunity is here,” she says.
READ: Nutrition labels influencing Canadians’ grocery purchases
Food choices are also becoming more purposeful. McArthur sees a shift from mindless eating to mindful eating, with consumers increasingly focused on optimizing their food intake. “People want to do more with less,” she says. “It started with GLP-1s where they want every bite to count for more.”
The pursuit of better health is blurring the lines between food and supplements, which means increased competition for grocers and food brands. “The forces that shape competition between grocery versus supplements and sport foods and beverages aren’t going away,” says Marketing Initiatives’ Barrett. And while the health and dietary supplements market is growing, he says they won’t replace all the micronutrients that people need and get from food.
McArthur points to the rise of “stacking”—combining foods, supplements and other products to meet specific health goals. “Bodybuilders have always stacked food and optimized, but we’re starting to see consumers thinking that way,” she says. “It’s partly because of the push with GLP-1s and making sure you’re getting your macros, but it’s also because consumers— especially younger generations—are moving away from those three traditional sit-down meals. They’ve become snackers.”
For retailers preparing for this future, stronger data and AI capabilities will become increasingly important, Stewart says, particularly to be discoverable by AI systems. In addition, he’s seeing more investment happening in personalization through loyalty programs.
However, he stresses that technology should enhance the shopping experience rather than dominate it. “The majority of sales will still happen in stores, so grocers will need to offer that expertise, exploration, discovery and experiential retail,” says Stewart. “Technology should underpin how you deliver that rather than being what consumers come to the store for.”
This article was first published in Canadian Grocer’s September/October 2026 issue.
