With inflation, 9 million French people can no longer eat healthily

“5 fruits and vegetables a day”: the adage is well known, but putting it into practice is not always easy. Every year, Familles Rurales goes to various shops (hypermarkets, supermarkets, organic shops, etc.) and puts together a standard monthly basket, with healthy and varied products that comply with the government recommendations of the PNNS (National Health Nutrition Program). On the menu: lots of seasonal fruit and vegetables, therefore, but also dried fruit without added salt, pulses or legumes, whole grain products, dairy products, fatty fish, meat, water…

The year 2022 has taken a toll on millions of families forced to meet essential expenses that have exploded with incomes that have rarely increased by the same proportions. The food budget has sometimes been the adjustment variable to balance the difficult months, too often at the expense of healthy eating, but recommended for public health reasons

Report of the Consumer Price Observatory, 22 February 2023

An unsustainable basket for 9 million people

The association’s report is categorical: The average monthly price of our “variegated” basket for a family of 4 is €734 for the first prices, €814 for national brands and €1,179 for organic products. This score drops to €477 when the products are less varied by respecting the PNNS and the cycle of the seasons. “.

However, like our colleagues from reporterre, if we look at the latest INSEE data (2017), today 9 million people live below the poverty line. They spend an average of 413 euros of their monthly budget on food: ” 65€, which would be “enough” to add to the monthly budget of families living at the level of the poverty line to comply with the PNNS, i.e. 7.2 billion each year to be compared with the 20 billion spent on treating pathologies induced by a poor diet , which could be avoided says the report on rural households.

Allocate a monthly allowance of €65 to low-income families?

On February 17, the association sent an open letter to the Minister of Health and Prevention on the urgency of putting a plan in place” eat better, eat healthy “. Calls on the public authorities to set up a monthly allowance of 65 euros to help the most modest families. In the columns of reporterreNadia Ziane, director of the department of consumption for rural households, explains this recommendation:

It would be more of an investment than an expense. Every year our health insurance company spends – on obesity and overweight alone – over 20 billion euros treating diseases that could have been avoided by eating healthier. »

Reporterre, February 23, 2023

The association also suggests involving health professionals more to support parents in the education and diversification of their children’s tastes, by banning advertising aimed at children praising products that are too fat, too sweet, too salty, opening European funding for promote balanced products and invest in prevention by engaging in a food transition at all levels:

That of distributors and producers who owe us transparency on
constitution of prices and which is responsible for reducing packaging that is harmful to the environment and unnecessarily burdensome for consumers, those of consumers who should be better supported to see them adopt the right reflexes both for their health and for the interest of future generations.

Consumer price observatory 2022

Less marked inflation on healthy products

If the INSEE estimates the inflation of food products in 2022 at +12%, the Rural Family study reveals that the latter is lower for healthy products. The latter, in fact, recorded a price increase of 8.3%. The association’s report therefore insists that the choice of products is decisive when making balance sheet adjustments: wrists increased “only” by 3.8%. They cost less than meat (+6.5%) while guaranteeing a good protein intake “. Even the cooking methods can affect the monthly expenditure: steam cooking allows you to do without fat (butter or oil), whose prices have increased by 12.9%.

In conclusion, the healthiest products, because they are less processed, are the cheapest. But it is clear that these products are still too expensive, even inaccessible, for people in great precariousness.