Study tracks shift in U.S. consumer spending on processed foods

A team led by Guanlan Hu of the University of Toronto and Columbia University published an analysis in Nature Human Behaviour regarding food processing and consumer spending trends. The study tracked purchases across 30,000 U.S. households, utilizing 9,367,550 weekly grocery baskets from 2017 through 2022. The findings showed that during pandemic lockdowns, American households shifted toward less processed food. However, after restrictions were lifted, spending on ultra-processed products climbed back and remained above pre-pandemic levels.

The research provides a long-term view of consumer behavior regarding food products. The findings indicate that the market shift back to ultra-processed foods was significant enough to remain above the baseline established before 2020.