‘Healthy food costs more than processed items’

A basket of healthy food still costs more than less healthy processed goods — heaping pressure on low-income families or those on social welfare if they want to maintain a healthy diet, a new study has found.

The research was conducted for the food safety promotion board Safefood and estimated that the total cost of a weekly minimum essential food basket, a healthy food basket, for six household types. It found the basket of items ranged from €51.19 for a single person living in a rural household, to €159.54 for a two-parent, two-child (primary and secondary school age) family also living in a rural area.

It also found that the cost of a healthy basket of food accounts for a large percentage (15% to 36%) when presented as the proportion of household income, and that the price of a minimum essential food basket also accounts for a large percentage (18% to 26%) of household spending when presented as one of the items in the core minimum essential standard of living costs.