Shopping anxiety, higher food prices and individual income limitations are some of the factors making access to food challenging for Canadians during the COVID-19 pandemic, a new study suggests.

Researchers conducted an online inter-provincial survey with residents of B.C., Alberta, Ontario, Quebec and the Atlantic provinces during the first wave of COVID-19. The survey assessed how the pandemic affected food access and behaviour in each region and how perceptions regarding the food systems may have been altered.