Farm-Scape is sponsored by Manitoba Pork Council and Sask Pork Play Audio Farm-Scape is a Wonderworks Canada production and is distributed courtesy of Manitoba Pork Council and Sask Pork.

Farm-Scape, Episode 1402

Surveys conducted by Ipsos-Reid show Canadians are becoming increasingly health conscious as they make food their purchasing decisions.

Surveys conducted by Canada's largest market research and public affairs company during 2002 and 2003 show, when buying food, Canadian consumers are considering everything from food safety to nutrition to their own state of well being.

Ipsos-Reid Agrifood Division Vice President Susan Jones says people are starting to link food with their own state of health.

" If we look at how Canadians are eating now, nearly half of us...47 percent say that they eat mainly healthy foods with some gaps but fully a quarter of us say that they need to improve their diet or that they do not eat a healthy diet.

We also have learned things like, the older we get, the more healthily we seem to eat. If you're over 55 years of age in this country, 43 percent of us say that they're eating a well balanced and healthy diet.

When we look at diet and health we also see that Canadians are making changes. Three quarters of Canadians say they have made changes to their diet over the past few years and when we asked them why over 60 percent say that the main reason they did so was to maintain good health.

We see some of these trends today and, when we look ahead into the future, I think that, as all of the baby boomers continue to age, the concept of nutrition and wellness will continue to increase in importance.

Consumers are not content anymore to just take what's given them. They want good health. They want good nutrition".

Jones says consumers have less time these days to make meals from scratch. She says, when you combine that with the need for good health and good nutrition, consumers are going to place even greater demands on the fast food or 'prepped and ready to go' food industry to provide foods that are healthy and nutritious.

For Farmscape.Ca, I'm Bruce Cochrane.