Grace Tulysewski

The global transition to a healthier and more sustainable food system is underway. Key to this transition is the uptake of environmentally sustainable diets by consumers, a shift encouraged by many governments worldwide and piquing the interest of Australian consumers.

However, until healthy and sustainable dietary guidelines are developed in an Australian context, consumer food choice is largely guided by front-of-pack promotion. As part of my PhD program, I have developed a novel content analysis method to identify the promotion of sustainability issues on supermarket food products. Using product data from the CSIRO FoodTrack^TM database, I have applied this method to the highly relevant grocery categories of meat and meat-alternatives. Using a data driven approach, this case study aims to benchmark and decipher the strategies currently used to promote sustainability to Australian grocery shoppers. In addition, the intersection of product price, healthiness, and sustainability promotion is explored.

Food choice behaviour is also shaped by the lived experiences of each shopper. ‘Individual factors', such as values, awareness, and attitudes, interact with environmental influences (such as front-of-pack marketing) to determine product purchase outcomes. To investigate these multidirectional influences on food choice, I have conducted an online Australia-wide survey. Results will gauge consumer perception of sustainability promotion and its influence on purchasing behaviour in relation to predictors such as food healthiness, cost, and a range of consumer characteristics.

In a separate but similarly consumer-focused study, I am exploring changes in plant-based milk consumption in the Australian population. Using nationally representative and longitudinal data collected by the Centre for Global Food and Resources ‘Food Insights Questionnaire’ (FoodIQ), this study explores the changing landscape of plant based dairy consumption in Australia, including psychosocial and demographic factors that may predict changes in consumption patterns over time.

Learn more about sustainable diet research from the CSIRO and food policy research from the Centre for Global Food and Resources:

CSIRO environmental diets research:

https://www.csiro.au/en/research/environmental-impacts/sustainability/Environmental-impact-of-diets

CGFAR policy research themes:

https://www.adelaide.edu.au/global-food/research/food-policy  

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