Food purchase behaviour in a Finnish population: patterns, carbon footprints and expenditures

• Published in: Public health nutrition Vol. 25; no. 11; pp. 3265 - 3277
• Main Authors: Meinilä, Jelena, Hartikainen, Hanna, Tuomisto, Hanna L, Uusitalo, Liisa, Vepsäläinen, Henna, Saarinen, Merja, Kinnunen, Satu, Lehto, Elviira, Saarijärvi, Hannu, Katajajuuri, Juha-Matti, Erkkola, Maijaliisa, Nevalainen, Jaakko, Fogelholm, Mikael
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge, UK Cambridge University Press 01.11.2022
• Subjects: Animals; Brand loyalty; Carbon; Carbon Footprint; Cooking; Cross-Sectional Studies; Diet; Energy; Environmental impact; Expenditures; Factor analysis; Family Characteristics; Finland; Food; Footprint analysis; Health Expenditures; Households; Life cycle analysis; Life cycle assessment; Loyalty cards; Purchasing; Research Paper; Sustainability; Veganism; Vegetarianism; Finland; Europe; Greenhouse gas emission; Nutrition; Diet; Food consumption; Environmental impact
• ISSN: 1368-9800; 1475-2727
• DOI: 10.1017/S1368980022001707

To identify food purchase patterns and to assess their carbon footprint and expenditure. Cross-sectional. Purchase patterns were identified by factor analysis from the annual purchases of 3435 product groups. The associations between purchase patterns and the total purchases' carbon footprints (based on life-cycle assessment) and expenditure were analysed using linear regression and adjusted for nutritional energy content of the purchases. Loyalty card holders ( 22 860) of the largest food retailer in Finland. Eight patterns explained 55 % of the variation in food purchases. The pattern made the greatest contribution to the annual carbon footprint, followed by the , and patterns. , and patterns made the smallest contribution to the carbon footprint of the purchases. , , and patterns made the greatest contribution, whereas the and patterns made the smallest contribution to food expenditure. Carbon footprint per euros spent increased with stronger adherence to the , and patterns. The , and patterns were associated with relatively high expenditure on food, suggesting no economic barrier to a potential shift towards a plant-based diet for consumers adherent to those patterns. Strong adherence to the pattern resulted in a low energy-adjusted carbon footprint but high carbon footprint per euro. This suggests a preference for cheap nutritional energy rather than environment-conscious purchase behaviour. Whether a shift towards a plant-based pattern would be affordable for those with more traditional and cheaper purchase patterns requires more research.