Review the 2024 Food and Health Survey from IFIC through a dairy marketing lens.

 It’s arrived. “It” is the 2024 Food and Health Survey from the International Food Information Council (IFIC). For 19 consecutive years, IFIC has surveyed Americans to understand their perceptions, beliefs and behaviors surrounding food and food-purchasing decisions. 

What makes this year special is that IFIC tripled the sample size by surveying 3,000 Americans, age 18 to 80 years, online between March 8 and March 24, 2024. There were also a number of new questions added this year. 

But first, some things don’t change. American consumers continue to rank taste (85%) as the most impactful element in their food and beverage purchase decisions. Price remains the second most impactful (76%), followed by healthfulness (62%), convenience (57%) and environmental sustainability (31%).  

The impact of convenience, however, is down from last year (61% in 2023 to 57% in 2024). The impact of environmental sustainability on food and beverage purchase decisions has also declined in each of the past two surveys (39% in 2022, 34% in 2023 and 31% in 2024). 

Taste reigns. Price matters. Nine in 10 (90%) respondents said they have noticed an increase in the price of food and beverage. This recognition is up significantly from 83% in 2022.  

“Examining the awareness of increased cost by generation reveals a fascinating finding: Each generation has noticed the increased costs significantly more than the generation(s) younger than them,” said Kris Sollid, senior director, research and consumer insights at IFIC. “In other words, more Baby Boomers have noticed the rising costs compared with every other generation. More Gen X have noticed the rising costs compared with Millennial and so on.” 

(click on graph to enlarge)

Healthfulness ranks third on influencing purchase decision. But what exactly is a healthy food? 

For the third straight year in the IFIC Food & Health Survey, “fresh” (39%) is the most common criteria used by consumers to define a “healthy” food followed by “good source of protein” (37%) and “low in sugar” (35%). While the inclusion of “fresh” and “low in sugar” in definitions for “healthy” have remained consistent across the last three years, “good source of protein” is gaining steam, steadily climbing over the past three years (59% in 2022, 67% 2023 and 71% 2024). 

(click on graph to enlarge)

This is great news for dairy manufacturers, as most dairy products are inherent sources of high-quality, complete protein. Many dairy foods are fresh and local, with low-sugar and no-added-sugars being prioritized in dairy product innovation. 

More consumers are trying to limit their sugar consumption this year (66% up from 61%). Added sugars are most likely to be the target of these efforts, though three in 10 report trying to limit or avoid both added sugars and sugars that are naturally present in foods.

(click on graph to enlarge)

The top benefits consumers seek from food, beverages and nutrients are energy, healthy aging, weight loss and management, and digestive health.

With there being no consensus on the definition of ultra-processed foods among food and nutrition scientists, how consumers have a uniting opinion? One in three Americans are now familiar with the term ultra-processed foods, yet there are differences by age. Younger generations, for example, are more likely than older generations to be familiar with the term (39% for Gen Z and 42% for Millennials compared with 30% for Gen X and 21% for Boomers). The youngest generations (Gen Z and Millennials) are twice as likely as Baby Boomers to be familiar.

 

The survey explored the connection between food and emotional well-being. Results showed that three in four consumers believe their food and beverage choices impact their mental/emotional well-being. Conversely, two in three believe the reverse: that their well-being impacts their food and beverage choices. 

(click graph to enlarge)

It also delved into how consumers are getting their food and nutrition information. And no surprise, it’s increasingly from social media. 

“We found that over half of consumers (54%) report seeing food and nutrition content on their news feeds, up from 42% last year,” Sollid said. “What’s interesting is that while consumers are seeing more of this content, fewer Americans have a lot of trust in it.”  

(click on graph to enlarge)

When it comes to trust, Baby Boomers are the most skeptical. Fifty-nine percent of Baby Boomers say they trust food or nutrition content they come across on social media, which is significantly lower than the trust every other generation reports (71% for Gen X, 68% for Millennials and 76% for Gen Z).  

“The conversation around trust in food and nutrition information is so important to analyze and understand,” said Wendy Reinhardt Kapsak, president and CEO of IFIC. “Ensuring consumers have access to compelling, science-based information about food to inform smart, healthy decisions for themselves and their families rather than misinformation is a cause worth championing, and that is what IFIC is all about.”  

To view the full 2024 IFIC Food & Health survey, link HERE.