Summary
This report document summarises findings from a recent survey among parents in Scotland, exploring their family’s diet and food related behaviours, and the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has had on these.
Food Standards Scotland (FSS) commissioned Ipsos Scotland to include questions on attitudes to healthy eating, sustainability, and the impact of COVID-19 on diet, as part of an annual omnibus survey among 1,004 parents living in Scotland.
Key findings
- Almost everyone surveyed reported that they eat away from home with their child at some point, with only 3% reporting that they rarely do this.
- The majority of parents (80%) reported that they usually visit sit down restaurants or cafes when eating away from home with their child. However, parents reported that they usually use multiple ways of eating away from home, including buying food to eat on the go (59%), as well as taking food from home (74%).
- Most parents (84%) agreed that it was either very important or somewhat important that healthy were options available for their child when eating out.
- Almost a third (31%) consider environmental sustainability a great deal when buying and/ or preparing meals for their family, while 42% consider this a little.
- More than half of parents (57%) generally consider healthy eating to be more of a priority over environmental sustainability when buying and/or preparing meals for their family. Only 3% of all parents considered environmental sustainability to be more of a priority over healthy eating when planning family meals. Almost a third (32%) felt that they were equal priorities when buying and/or preparing meals for their family.
- Just under a fifth (17%) felt that since the COVID-19 pandemic, their child’s diet has become less healthy, while 13% felt that their child’s diet has become healthier.
- A third of parents (34%) felt that their own diet has become less healthy since the COVID-19 pandemic, while 17% felt it has become healthier. However, just under half of all parents surveyed felt there has been no difference since in their diet since the COVID-19 pandemic.
These findings complement and add to existing FSS data on monitoring trends in consumer behaviours and attitudes regarding diet to support policy development and appropriate messaging to consumers.
