November 2023 Board of Health Meeting - Ontario Nutritious Food Basket & Food Insecurity Information Report

PREPARED BY:     
Chronic Disease and Injury Prevention Department

DATE:     
November 20, 2023

When an individual or family struggles to put food on the table, it is a sign of overall deprivation from insufficient or unstable incomes. In these cases, food is often sacrificed to pay for other costs of living. Household food insecurity refers to the inadequate or insecure access to food due to financial constraints which have severe negative impacts on physical health, mental health, the healthcare system, and overall social well-being¹. These impacts can be seen through children living in food insecure households who are more likely to experience mental health issues like hyperactivity, inattention, greater risks of disordered eating, depression, and suicidal ideation in adolescence and early adulthood².

Locally, Windsor and Essex County (WEC) had a 18.8% household food insecurity rate between 2019-2021, with a 19.8% rate in 2021 alone3. Further, 12.9% of children 1 to 17 years old in WEC live in food-insecure households³. Since 1998, the Ontario Public Health Standards have mandated local health units to monitor food affordability through population health assessments and surveillance using the Ontario Nutritious Food Basket (ONFB) tool. The ONFB⁴ is one of many food costing tools that measures the cost of basic eating that represents current nutrition recommendations and average food purchasing patterns. The ONFB tool accounts for the current market availability of many products and the ability to find the price of foods through online grocery platforms. 

CURRENT INITIATIVES

Between May 23 and June 1, 2023, the WECHU used the new ONFB hybrid costing tool to collect data directly from stores and indirectly through online retailers. Using these final numbers, a variety of income and family scenarios for the local community were calculated.

The 2023 cost of the Ontario Nutritious Food Basket, for a family of four in Windsor-Essex is $262.68 per week ($1,137.39 per month). This is an 8.7% increase in food cost from 2022. A sample of three income scenarios from the 2023 Real Cost of Eating in Windsor-Essex report is presented in Table 1 below. Of note, these figures represent the cost of 61 different nutritious food items which would make up a typical grocery list. A 5% buffer was also added to the final basket amount which accounted for miscellaneous items not included in the calculation such as spices, hygiene products, and other household needs. Not included in these calculations are other essential needs including transportation, phone, internet, heat, hydro, medication, childcare, school supplies, clothes, shoes, eye and dental care, home maintenance, and household cleaners.

Below, Table 1 compares monthly income to the cost of rent and the 2023 ONFB calculation. Of note, a single male living on Ontario Works (a social assistance benefit program) could spend close to their entire income on the rent for a bachelor apartment, leaving a shortage of $337.37 for all other expenses and an expecting mother on Ontario Disability Support Program, would have only $2.05 left for all other expenses.

Further, the Windsor-Essex ONFB data has been used as an essential component in the calculation of the Ontario Living Wage rates. A living wage is the minimum amount a person must earn to afford to live and participate in a specific community. A living wage is not the same as the minimum wage, which is the lowest rate an employer can legally pay for work performed. The 2023 Living Wage rate for the southwest region is $18.65 which is $2.10/per hour more than the current provincial minimum wage. Table 2 highlights the local living wage rates compared to the minimum wage rates from 2018 to 2023. 

Income inequality has been recognized as one of the most significant social determinants contributing to poor population health outcomes and is the main driver of food insecurity. When basic needs are not met, this can be a significant barrier for individuals to survive, let alone thrive, or make meaningful contributions to society. The additional income scenarios and case studies included in the 2023 Real Cost of Eating report further demonstrate the difficulties community members face. This report will be disseminatedto local social planners, anti-poverty advocates, Registered Dietitians, and other community partners who will benefit from using this data within their program planning and advocacy efforts. To view the full report, visit www.wechu.org/healthy-eating/nutritious-food-basket.

¹Ontario Dietitians in Public Health, Food Insecurity Workgroup. Position Statement on Responses to Food Insecurity. https://www.odph.ca/upload/membership/document/2021-04/ps-eng-corrected-07april21_3.pdf. Published December 2020.

²Tarasuk V, Li T, Fafard St-Germain AA. (2022) Household food insecurity in Canada, 2021. Toronto: Research to identify policy options to reduce food insecurity (PROOF). Retrieved from https://proof.utoronto.ca/  September 2, 2022.

³Ontario Agency for Health Protection and Promotion (Public Health Ontario). Food insecurity among children using the Canadian Health Survey of Children and Youth. 2nd ed. Toronto, ON: King’s Printer for Ontario; 2023

⁴Ministry of Health Promotion. Nutritious Food Basket Guidance Document. https://www.health.gov.on.ca/en/pro/programs/publichealth/oph_standards/docs/mhp/NutritiousFoodBasket.pdf May 2010.