At the end of 2022 the report of the new research ‘Changes in food behaviour in times of crisis’ was published. The study was coordinated by Aarhus University Denmark University and included project partners University of Helsinki and KU Leuven. The project received funding from EIT Food, the world’s largest and most dynamic food innovation community. EIT Food is supported by the European Institue of Innovation and Technology (EIT), a body of the European Union.

Consumer data was collected by an online survey carried out through Aistila Oy, a research company. Data collection was conducted in 10 European countries (Spain, Sweden, Germany, UK, Poland, Italy, France, Greece, Finland, Romania) in August 2022. A total of 5,000 adult consumers (18+) were surveyed, 500 per country, meeting the criteria of being responsible or co-responsible for grocery shopping.

Consumers feelings

The project is a follow-up study to research conducted in 2020, which demonstrated that COVID-19 lockdown measures may have caused lasting behaviour change in relation to food consumption.

The survey reveals that more than half of consumers surveyed (55

Consumer reactions

Consumers are reacting to increased prices by cutting costs where they can, including buying less, buying cheaper brands, and shopping at cheaper stores. Nearly four in 10 consumers (37

As well as cost-saving behaviours, consumers across Europe are also making more deliberate purchasing choices. Over half 52

New consumer categories

Looking at trends of consumer behaviours with regards to cooking and eating, the project used the findings to group European consumers into five categories. This grouping shows that a third (33