Formulated predominantly from industrial ingredients, ultra-processed foods contain minimal whole foods and overwhelming amounts of preservatives, additives, and synthetic micronutrients (Canella et al., 2014; Monteiro & Cannon, 2012). Ultra-processed food products are dominating the food supplies of high-income countries, thus increasing the demand for convenience food establishments which rank among the largest influencers shaping the food system (Scott, 2018; Monteiro et al., 2013; Canella et al., 2014). Consumer health and disease risk are not the only casualties of ultra-processed foods; snacking replaces meals, which deprioritizes family and community life, collapsing social networks, eroding regional and national food culture and ultimately drives local food producers, distributors, and retailers out of business (Monteiro & Cannon, 2012).

Failure to plan food purchases, consuming oversized portions, and allowing food to expire are daily consumption patterns resulting from consumers relentless purchase of takeout and restaurant meals (Tucker & Farrelly, 2016; Foley, 2011). The unfortunate reality of food waste as expressed by Tucker and Farrelly (2016) is that wasted food inevitably creates a wastage of land, water, energy, labor and capital, contributing to further environmental pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. Targeted efforts and simple changes of consumer purchasing patterns can lead to significant waste reduction of the most-resource intensive foods like meat and dairy, and an unintended benefit of helping consumers trim their expanding waistlines (Foley, 2011).  

Consumers who shop in major supermarkets have little knowledge of the inner operations of the industrialized global food system (Cairns & Johnston, 2018; Dowler et al., 2010). In today’s food system, consumers are not becoming involved enough with the design of food products, how foods are manufactured, the fossil fuels depleted, the workers exploited, or even the treatment of animals in industrial agriculture (Cairns & Johnston, 2018; Carolan, 2015). Seen only in their economic roles, consumers have minimal autonomy over their food purchasing habits because their preferences embody the tastes provided by the industrial food system, despite retailers’ strong assertion of the sovereignty of consumer choice (Dowler et al., 2010; Carins & Johnston, 2018).