Most Canadians still think well of their food system, but they are more unsure about where it is heading and more worried about prices and misleading information, according to research released at the Canadian Centre for Food Integrity's (CCFI) 2026 Public Trust Summit, the tenth year of its national study.
Fifty-seven per cent of Canadians have a positive impression of the food system, unchanged from 2025. But only 40% believe it is moving in the right direction, five points lower than last year, and 38% say they are unsure.
Food costs dominate. Forty-nine per cent named the cost of food as a major issue, ahead of inflation, access to health care, the availability of healthy food and the economy.
Concern about food-related misinformation rose from 40% in 2025 to 43% in 2026, and respondents were slightly more likely to say they found it hard to tell whether food information was accurate. Daily use of AI tools to look up food information rose from 10% to 12%, yet comfort with AI fell in every category the survey measured.
Farmers came out best. They remain the most trusted group in Canada's food system, and trust in them rose by five percentage points from the previous year.
For farmers, the survey's message is that they have credibility with the public at a time when shoppers are struggling to sort good information from bad, and that explaining what drives food prices is part of keeping that trust.
Photo: GTD Aquitaine / Wikimedia Commons (Public domain)
Source: Farms.com
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