Northern stores feel impact of declining demand for red meat

Sudbury -

Brent Battistelli, who runs the grocery store in the Greater Sudbury community of Lively, said it has been a challenge to continue operating during the pandemic and has noticed a decline in red meat sales.

Battistelli said his store is responding by offering smaller packages and deals wherever possible.

"What we’re seeing from a consumer base is just really watching flyers, looking for value, specials and switching to different cuts," he said.

"So the chicken category is certainly one that’s less expensive so people are turning to those types of deals."

This isn't just a northern Ontario issue. A new study by Farm Credit Canada found the consumption and sale of red meat are down across Canada. Using data from Statistics Canada, the report said demand for beef began declining steadily after it peaked in late 2020.

"With the lockdowns or disruption in service, I think people are really protective of their income as they have it now and then of course food price inflation," said Janet Music, Dalhousie University food industry researcher.

"We’ve been talking about it for months but really our cost of living increases to our salaries just hasn’t kept pace with the price of food in general, so we’re losing ground and it’s making people nervous and so they’re decreasing those big-ticket items at the grocery market."

Music said while COVID-19 is to blame for a large part of the higher prices, she said the bigger problem is climate change.

"As we start experiencing that adverse weather in places where we grow our food, like B.C. and drought in the Prairies, that’s going to impact the supply of our food," she said.

"We’re going to have a really serious conversation about how we mitigate some of those challenges."

Music said consumers can have an impact on the environment and their wallets simply by watching their food waste. She also said people should buy only what they need, but to look for sales and use them to stock the freezer.