For grocers, true sustainability requires both affordability and accessibility: expert
Greenhouse gas reducations, ethical sourcing and eco-friendly packaging are among the claims that often spring to mind when it comes to food sustainability. But it’s about more than just environmental impact—affordability, accessibility and, ultimately, how it’s presented at retail play an important role, too. Sadaf Mollaei, assistant professor at the University of Guelph and research chair in the business of food at the Arrell Food Institute, explains. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
You helped develop the Sustainable Nutrition Environment Measures Survey to assess the consumer food environment in stores and restaurants. Tell us about that.
In that research, we were trying to understand if sustainable choices are affordable and accessible for people. What I want to highlight here is when we’re thinking about sustainable food, it has different meanings. A lot of people immediately go to environmental sustainability—low carbon footprint, low greenhouse gas emissions—but that’s only part of sustainability. Food that is nutritious, healthy, affordable, accessible and something you want to eat also classifies as sustainable food. If something is very expensive, it doesn’t classify under that sustainability umbrella, even if it has low environmental impact. For example, beef has one of the highest carbon footprints and plant-based foods have lower carbon emissions—from that lens, it’s more sustainable. But if you are importing a plant-based option that is very expensive and it’s also only sold in very specific locations, so not accessible to everybody, it’s not really the most sustainable choice.
Few consumers who report positive attitudes toward eco-friendly products and services follow through with their wallets. How can grocers help narrow the intention gap?
Yes, exactly. I’ve done research on that. People state they want to eat healthier and they also want to eat more sustainably, but when you look at their choices, it’s usually taste and price and familiarity that are the top-ranking factors people consider when making food choices. If retailers want to promote more sustainable, nutritious, healthy eating, it’s about providing those options and making sure they’re affordable—it’s trying to present that item in a way that can compete with regular options. So, it’s not a lot more expensive, it’s presented in your mainstream shelves or it gets as much promotion as the other products.
You mentioned affordability. When household budgets are squeezed, does sustainability completely fall off the radar?
Or does it pivot toward different habits such as reducing home food waste or buying imperfect produce? It depends on the point of view. When the budget is constrained, people are resilient—they come up with ways to make things work. For example, they start buying in bulk, which is usually less expensive. If you have the freezer space, the fridge space or storage space, you’re going to keep it for a longer time and use it when you need it, which is a sustainable behaviour. Or, if we see there is a price increase on fresh produce, people shift to canned and frozen, which is great because it has the same [nutritional] benefits, it’s less perishable and it’s usually less expensive. From the other side, because you’re paying more for the sustainable products, you’re going to be paying more attention to how much food you’re wasting. And we know the majority of food waste happens at the household level. Now that you’re paying more, you’re going to try to use every piece of whatever you bought, try to make soups, broths, things like that— then it’s more sustainable.
What gives you the most optimism for Canada’s sustainable food systems?
People are resilient. That doesn’t mean there shouldn’t be any support for them, but there are ways … buying in scale, budgeting, meal planning, reducing food waste—these are considered sustainable food behaviours. But, from a more systemic point of view, I think the current, at least stated support, we are seeing from the Canadian government—the grocery rebate, the National School Food Program and the National Food Security Strategy— is a step in the right direction. We need to make sure these strategies address both short- and long-term goals, make sure we are solving problems for people today and also thinking about the future.
This article was first published in Canadian Grocer’s August 2026 issue.
