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Shopping basket in a grocery store. Photo: Colourbox.

Do Norwegian consumers care about sustainability when they shop for food?

Research findings

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37 percent of survey respondents believe that their own food consumption is sustainable, but taste, quality and price are still the most important factors when grocery shopping.

Norwegian consumers are a complex group with different capacities and needs. They have differing opinions on the importance of sustainability in food purchases and on the design of a potential sustainability label for food.

This was revealed by two consumer surveys conducted by the Norwegian Consumer Council and Oslo Metropolitan University (OsloMet) under the auspices of the NewTools project at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health.

— Many respond that they would make sustainable food choices if there were better sustainability labels. This is something we must take seriously. The work with the New Tools project is important because it can give us the label that Norwegian consumers want, so that they can make informed and good choices in the grocery store, says Aysha Grönberg, Head of Food and Health at the Norwegian Consumer Council.

About the NewTools project

NewTools aims to find out how we can move the food system in a more sustainable direction. Give both producers and consumers better knowledge about nutritional quality and the impact our food choices have on climate, environment and social sustainability. A total of 28 actors from across the food system are partners in the project. The Norwegian Institute of Public Health leads the project, which has representatives from research, the food industry, the authorities and interest organisations.

Taste, quality and price are most important when purchasing food

Taste, quality and price are highlighted as the most important factors when purchasing food, while organic production, locally produced food, that the product is environmentally and climate-friendly, and working conditions during production are emphasised by far fewer. This is in line with findings from other surveys.

–It quickly becomes an eternal battle between my wallet and conscience. I could buy meat, eggs and vegetables from a farm if I had the time and money, says a 50-year-old man from one of the focus groups.

In the focus groups, it emerged that people experience a kind of powerlessness when faced with the many problematic aspects of the food system. Several expressed that they do not have the strength to deal with the complexity. The result is that they close their eyes and choose based on taste and price.

– These surveys show that if you want to do something to get people to choose more sustainable products, price can be an important incentive. It is interesting to hear directly from consumers in what ways they consider sustainability when they shop. That is why these studies from OsloMet and the Norwegian Consumer Council are useful, says Knut Inge Klepp, project manager for the NewTools project.

Women and people in Oslo are most concerned about sustainability

Women and people from Oslo stand out a bit when it comes to attitudes towards sustainability when they shop for food.

Many have changed their food products in the last two years to reduce their environmental impact. Women are more aware of making sustainable choices than men. Some examples include buying food close to the expiry date and throwing away less food.

Oslo residents are more likely than participants from other regions to have made changes for climate and environmental reasons.

High trust in Norwegian-produced food

85 percent trust that food produced in Norway is produced in a climate and environmentally friendly manner. This drops to 69 percent when the food comes from EU countries, and only 23 percent trust food produced outside the EU.

– Participants have a high level of trust in Norwegian regulations and the political control of the Norwegian food market. They believe that it is the authorities' responsibility to decide what is allowed to be produced and imported into Norway. It is clear that a majority think that all available products are "approved" by the highest authorities, says Marianne Sandsmark Morseth, researcher from OsloMet.

And adds:
–That is why organic products are seen by some as a sales gimmick and redundant in Norway.

More concerned about the environmental impact of pure goods than of finished products and sweets

More people are concerned about the environmental impact of farmed fish (47%), berries, fruit and vegetables, especially imported ones (44%), and chicken and pork (44%), while only 31 percent are concerned about whether the production of finished products, snacks and sweets has an environmental impact.

Different views on meat production

Half of those surveyed believe that increased meat production can make Norwegian food production more sustainable. People from Oslo are a little more concerned about the environmental impact of meat production than in the rest of the country.

–I think that meat is bad, but importing lots of beans and lentils that must be transported great distances is not good either. Is that really better than eating meat from Norway? wonders a 25-year-old woman from the focus groups.

What should a sustainability label for food items look like?

A sustainability label aims to provide information about the sustainability of production, transport and storage. For many, it is a too big and complicated issue to understand.

-It is important that a sustainability label must be understandable, universally designed, and visible, and people must have knowledge and trust in the label to use it, says Aysha Grönberg.

Over 60 percent want information about whether the food is produced in an environmentally and climate-friendly manner.

A sustainability label that expresses a claim that the food product is climate and environmentally friendly, such as Nøkkelhullet (The Keyhole), which points to a healthier product within a category, was seen as less convincing than labels with scales that describe specific aspects of the product and production.

A traffic light model with a colour scale - indicating good, average and bad - was the most popular design for a label that is easy to understand and use.

Discussion in the focus groups also brought up the problem of how choice of products can affect people and the environment and that there are ideals that many want to follow, but that this is made difficult, especially by financial constraints. The only exception is animal welfare, where several people use this as a guideline when buying chicken and eggs.

About the surveys:

The Norwegian Consumer Council conducted a survey to find out what was important to consumers when buying food. 1004 participants aged 18 – 90 answered 25 questions in collaboration with YouGov in February 2023.

In April 2024, OsloMet, together with Opinion, conducted 5 qualitative focus groups focusing on what a sustainability label on food could look like.

The reports from these surveys are only available in Norwegian:

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