AA-FT recently contributed to the European Commission survey on food affordability, aimed at collecting civil society input on how food prices and access may evolve in the coming years.
Food affordability is increasingly affecting a broad range of households across the EU. Rising costs are limiting access to quality food, with the consumption of products such as organic food stagnating or growing more slowly. At the same time, healthier and more sustainable options are often not the most affordable ones.
In our contribution, we highlighted a major structural issue: plant-based foods are too often priced higher than meat and highly processed foods, despite being cheaper to produce and significantly better for health, the environment and climate. This price distortion is largely driven by long-standing public subsidies for animal products and by private market dynamics that favour ultra-processed foods.
However, as showcased in the Blueprint for an EU Action Plan for Plant-based Foods, coherent EU policies on subsidies, taxation, public procurement and innovation could make plant-based foods more affordable and accessible for all.
Ensuring that plant-based foods are the affordable choice is essential not only for social fairness, but also for building resilient food systems that support public health and climate goals and contribute to environmental protection.