Prof. Simon Somogyi, the Arrell Chair in the Business of Food, spoke to iPolitics about how the COVID-19 crisis has impacted consumers’ ability to eat healthy.

Somogyi said lower-income consumers who already had a hard time accessing healthy foods could be further burdened during the COVID-19 pandemic.

He noted that Canada is in a period of deflation and the costs of many fruits and vegetables that are imported from the U.S. and Mexico are increasing as importing costs rise. The good news is that Canadians can  switch to buying more domestically grown produce during the summer.

“We expect that fruits and vegetables prices will actually decrease towards late summer, early fall, and will sort of increase again into winter and early next year,” he added.

Somogyi studies agri-food value chain management and agribusiness marketing management and is a professor in the School of Hospitality, Food and Tourism Management.