In a difficult economic context (rising fixed costs and less purchasing power), the French have had to arbitrate their expenditure to the detriment of food. The weight of expenditure on food in and outside the home has decreased, with 18.6% in 2006 against 19.7% in 2005. The act of eating is governed by a set of social and cultural rules, which defining a formal meal linked to set times and an eating style including three formal meals a day. Presented at the model most suited to the individual’s physiological pace, there is no reason to take is as an ideal model. While commensality seems to be giving way to a more individualistic style, it returns to the fore in festive, convivial meals. We are also seeing a decrease in the number of dishes and preparation times, irregularity in mealtimes, an increase in dinner trays, rapid growth of transformed products and exotic dishes (linked to the growth of ethnic restaurants and travel), to the detriment of staple products.

In twenty years, the time devoted to lunch has decreased from 1 hr 40 min. to 40 minutes on average, sometimes to less than 10 minutes for some snackers, involving an adjustment in catering. In the meantime, the average price has dropped by 20%. Snacking and take-away sales are new eating habits that constitute a €23.5 billion market (28% cafés, 23% fast-food restaurants, 13% franchise site like large stadiums, amusement parks, etc., 12% in food shops like bakeries or delicatessens, 10% itinerant, seasonal and daily channels, 8% transport locations like train stations and highways), 4% petrol stations and 2% large and medium-sized supermarkets). A certain number of Rungis companies are present on this market, adapting to the new eating habits of consumers (snacking, 4th and 5th range products, take-away products, portable foods) and even anticipating them with innovative products, via specialized retailers. In this market with a growth rate two or three times higher than traditional restaurants, the sandwich is in the lead and increasingly integrates the notion of balanced nutrition. Salads and soups also propose a health food image to consumers.

Taste is the main criterion on which we are ready to pay more for a food product. A desire for aesthetics is a growing trend in all consumption sectors. The French food culture has developed the hedonist dimension very significantly, through conviviality, sharing and taste. It refers to the quality and origin of the products and to gastronomy. The “made in France” origin is considered a guarantee of greater food safety to 87% of consumers, better quality (84%) and better taste (65%). In this respect, the market for food products from organic agriculture has grown steadily (9.5% annual) for ten years and primarily concerns dairy products and eggs (21%) and fruit and vegetables (16%).

Pascale Hebel
(Director of the Consumption Department of Crédoc)

« Things have changed a lot in terms of food. The distinction used to be made along social class lines. Today, consumption differs according to age. The younger generations devote less time and money to food. The food budget has decreased significantly over the last few decades. A young person consumes eight times less fresh fruit than his grandfather. This can be explained by an urbanization that increases the distance from fresh produce, an increase in working women with less time to spend buying food and preparing meals, an increase in leisure activities to the detriment of food and a drop in purchasing power that affects food that remains an adjustable variable. While healthy eating is on the rise, new offers mean you can eat for less, with the emergence of low cost foods, a new business model. Furthermore, to sell well a product must be practical, keep well and be quick to prepare. With young people we are also seeing an increase in products that have no health image, like cooked meats, but convey an image of pleasure and conviviality, like dinner appetizers, barbecues, etc. All these are brakes to the consumption of fresh produce. Similarly, the healthy image of fresh produce was over-emphasized (campaign on fruit and vegetables) and not enough pleasure, knowing that young people are less concerned by their health. People prefer a practical, processed product if it is not too different in taste terms from fresh produce, which takes longer to prepare. We also note among consumers a return to the terroir, craftsmanship, the notion of identity, and lifestyle increasingly determines eating habits (profession, travel, etc.). The seniors in turn retain their eating habits and have the most balanced and varied model. Eating habits are evolving according to age and the renewal of generations. Among the young, this means more ready-made, easy-to-use or TV-dinners and less three or four-course meals. Similarly, timetables are less rigid and stable and meals are more unstructured. The food is put on the table and everyone eats what they like ».

Pascale Briand
(Director General of Afssa - Agence française de sécurité sanitaire des aliments)

« Among the missions assigned to it, Afssa supplies scientific elements used to draw up and implement the national nutritional policy. To do so, it regularly runs scientific studies. In 1999 therefore, and then 2007, we conducted a national survey designed to monitor French eating habits in detail, the Individuelle Nationale des Consommations Alimentaires (INCA) study. This study revealed that the foods for which consumption varied the most between 1999 and 2007 are sugar and its derivatives (- 27% among men, children and teenagers and - 22% women), meat and offal (- 20% among children, - 17% teenagers and -16% women) and ice creams and frozen desserts (+ 30% among all adults). The study also showed that salt intake from foods (excluding salt added by the consumer directly) decreased 5.2 % between 1999 and 2007, going from 8.1 g/d to 7.7 g/d. This drop is notably characterized by a decrease in the proportion of “heavy” consumers (consuming over 12 g/d through foods). Despite this good news, salt consumption is still too high among the French. So be careful because an excess may be harmful to health, notably contributing to high blood pressure. In this instance there are two good reflexes to adopt: taste before adding salt and check the salt content of the foods you buy. The third extremely interesting point after the INCA 2 study is the trends in terms of infantile obesity. Despite having one of the lowest infantile obesity ratios in Europe, France has not been spared. The results of the INCA 2 survey on this subject were recently presented at the European congress on obesity in Geneva. They indicate that the prevalence of infantile obesity nationally has stabilized, which is a first in Europe. Although encouraging, these results are nonetheless provisional and have yet to be confirmed. The Agency’s results also underline the persistence of very broad disparities between social classes, with children from the poorest families still the most affected by obesity ».

Jean-Marc Bournigal
(Director General of the Food Trade – Ministry of Agriculture and Fishery)

« Our fellow citizens’ eating habits have changed a great deal over the past twenty years and the food offer has never been as varied or abundant in France. Despite this variety, obesity is gaining ground in our country even though it appears relatively protected by comparison with others. At the same time, the question of poor people’s access to a varied, quality diet is more than ever an immediate concern. One paradox stands out: on the one hand, our food’s nutritional qualities and healthiness have never been so good, while on the other hand, the same qualities have never been so questioned by consumers. It is true that eating properly appears to be increasingly complex. Faced with a loss of markers, we must be careful not to demonize food and focus on boosting and promoting the pleasure and cultural dimension of a balanced diet, especially with children, a dimension to which the French are particularly attached. Consumers naturally want safe, healthy food. This required is also shared by all the actors concerned: farmers, the food industry, distributors and, of course, the control services. The professionals are the first to be responsible for the products they place on the market. We currently have a very high level of health quality in our foods and we can boast without blushing of having one of the best food safety systems in the world. Food safety is a key public health concern, which explains the aggressive health policy backed by heavy involvement from economic actors, the DGAL and some 4,500 agents from its departments working in the field. It is because we have an efficient system that we can detect potential dangers and manage alerts throughout the food chain. The consumer is not necessarily aware of all the preventive actions taken on a daily basis, and their doubts essentially stem from their perception of health warnings or crises, widely relayed by the media. ».