With shopper priorities in the next 12 months instead focussed on money, wellness and spending time with friends and family, most consumers (71%) are prioritising value for money over sustainability when shopping for food and drink. That’s up from 58% in October, according to research conducted in March on 1,000 UK consumers by specialist food and drink business consultancy Levercliff.

Getting by financially and mental wellness were the main priorities among younger consumers. Most over 65s said physical wellness and spending time with family and friends were key priorities post-lockdown.

Growing pressures on household finances means most consumers aren’t prepared or able to move to sustainable products at any cost, said Levercliff Insights Manager Clair Prior.

“It’s not that consumers don’t care [about sustainability], but they have more pressing concerns. With the cost of more sustainable options seen as the main barrier to shopping more sustainably, current financial pressures will only be serving to exacerbate this perception. Our research has also indicated it goes beyond price in that consumers don’t want to change their eating habits or stop buying from the brands they know and like. They often don’t feel that the choices are out there to make that switch.”​

Levercliff Director Clodagh Sherrard said the industry still needed to make it easier for consumers to make sustainable choices to avoid the potential of government legislation “being forced on them”.​

When consumers are taking sustainability into account when buying food and drink products they are relying on tangible factors such as packaging and standards labels markings to decide which products are more sustainable than others. Where they struggle is in weighing up the carbon footprint of products. “There’s no widespread way of comparing one product to another,” ​said Prior.