Northern stores feel impact of declining demand for red meat
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.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
MPP Sarah Jama asked to leave Ontario legislature for wearing keffiyeh
MPP Sarah Jama was asked to leave the Legislative Assembly of Ontario by House Speaker Ted Arnott on Thursday for wearing a keffiyeh, a garment which has been banned at Queen’s Park.
Mountain guide dies after falling into a crevasse in Banff National Park
A man who fell into a crevasse while leading a backcountry ski group deep in the Canadian Rockies has died.
2 teens charged in Halifax homicide: police
Two teenagers have been charged with second-degree murder in connection to an alleged homicide near the Halifax Shopping Centre earlier this week.
'Deep ignorance': Calls for Manitoba trustee to resign sparked after comments about Indigenous people and reconciliation
A rural Manitoba school trustee is facing calls to resign over comments he made about Indigenous people and residential schools earlier this week.
ByteDance prefers TikTok shutdown in U.S. if legal options fail, Reuters sources say
TikTok owner ByteDance would prefer to shut down its loss-making app rather than sell it if the Chinese company exhausts all legal options to fight legislation to ban the platform from app stores in the U.S., four sources said.
12-year-old hippo in Japan raised as a male discovered to be a female
When Gen-chan arrived at a zoo in Japan in 2017, no one questioned whether the then-five-year-old hippopotamus was a boy. Seven years later, zoo staff made a surprising discovery: Gen-chan, now 12, was female.
Here's why Harvey Weinstein's New York rape conviction was tossed and what happens next
Here's what you need to know about why movie mogul Harvey Weinstein's rape conviction was thrown out and what happens next.
Improve balance and build core strength with this exercise
When it comes to cardiovascular fitness, you may tend to focus on activities that move you forward, such as walking, running and cycling.
Legendary hockey broadcaster Bob Cole dies at 90: CBC
Bob Cole, a welcome voice for Canadian hockey fans for a half-century, has died at the age of 90. Cole died Wednesday night in St. John's, N.L., surrounded by his family, his daughter, Megan Cole, told the CBC.