Has COVID-19 lockdown changed consumers’ behavior with food and food waste?

Branka Ilakovac¹, Darja Sokolić^2*, Lato Pezo³, Ivan Karner⁴

¹Food Waste Prevention Centre – FWAPC, Kornatska 1 C, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
²Faculty of Tourism and Rural Development in Požega, Vukovarska ulica 17, 34000 Požega, Croatia
³University of Belgrade, Institute of General and Physical Chemistry, Studentski trg 12/V, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia
⁴Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek; Faculty of Medicine, Josipa Huttlera 4, 31000 Osijek, Croatia

ARTICLE INFO	ABSTRACT
TYPE: Original scientific paper https://doi.org/10.17508/CJFST.2025.17.1.09 PDF	The COVID-19 pandemic has not only had an enormous impact on human health but has also led to sudden changes in lifestyle due to physical distance and isolation at home, with social and economic consequences, and has disrupted every aspect of people’s everyday life. With the spread of the virus to certain geographical regions, households’ behaviour under its influence has changed significantly. For example, a pandemic proclamation has dramatically increased the purchase of food in households’ attempts to store their supplies as well as paying more attention to food hygiene than before. As most countries in the world were closed, almost all food was consumed in households. The aim of this study was to answer the food safety question: Has COVID-19 lockdown changed consumer behaviour with food handling and food waste? Based on the results of an online survey of 1024 Croatian consumers on their behaviour when buying, preparing, and throwing food during lockdown, it can be concluded that COVID-19 lockdown positively influenced food households’ behaviour since food waste during lockdown has been reduced. Most of the respondents stated that they threw away less than 10% of the food during the lockdown than they normally waste. They tended not to waste food and took measures to prevent it from happening. They only wasted food that was spoiled. When wasting food, respondents pointed out that they felt terrible, because they thought that all food should be used, especially in times of uncertainty caused by lockdown. Moreover, they did not overeat and gain weight, but rather waste excess food.
*CORRESPONDENCE Darja Sokolić darja.sokolic@gmail.com
ARTICLE HISTORY Received: November 11, 2024 Accepted: January 21, 2025
CITATION Ilakovac B, Sokolić D, Pezo L, Karner I. Has COVID-19 lockdown changed consumers’ behavior with food and food waste?. Croatian Journal of Food Science and Technology (2025) 17 (1) 125-141
COPYRIGHT: © 2024 by the author(s). This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY).
	KEYWORDS consumer behaviour; food safety; pandemic response; COVID-19 lockdown; household food waste
	KEY CONTRIBUTION The COVID-19 pandemic has a direct impact on food systems by food safety and food security. The COVID-19 pandemic has jeopardized the activities of many countries to reduce food losses and waste. As a result of changing behavioural patterns, consumers could adjust their food behaviour and plan meals better, combined with generally better food management in the household. COVID-19 lockdown positively influenced food households’ behaviour since food waste during lockdown has been reduced.