For the first time in the 21-year history of the IFIC Food & Health Survey, convenience has overtaken healthfulness as a driver of what Americans put in their carts, according to new research from the International Food Information Council.
Taste (88 percent) and price (78 percent) remain the top two factors shaping food and beverage decisions, unchanged from prior years. But convenience (61 percent) edged out healthfulness (56 percent) for the first time since the survey began. Environmental sustainability (30 percent) ranked last among the five factors measured. This year’s survey also added a Canadian sample for the first time, allowing cross-border comparison with U.S. consumers.
“Every year the IFIC Food & Health Survey gives us a read on where Americans truly are, and what we see is a meaningful shift in how people view their food and make decisions,” said Wendy Reinhardt Kapsak, MS, RDN, president and CEO of IFIC, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit provider of science-based information on food safety, nutrition and sustainable food systems.
“In 2026, we find a public whose definition of ‘healthy’ is expanding beyond nutrition.”
‘Fresh’ reclaims top spot; ‘low in sugar’ falls out of top three
“Fresh” returned to the No. 1 spot (40 percent) among criteria Americans use to define a healthy food, while “low in sugar” dropped out of the top three for the first time. Rounding out the top five were “good source of protein” (33 percent), “good source of nutrients” (31 percent), “low in sugar” (29 percent) and “natural” (28 percent).
Since 2022, the fastest-climbing criteria all point toward ingredients and processing: “Limited or no artificial ingredients or preservatives” jumped 10 points, “limited number of ingredients” rose seven points and “minimal or no processing” gained six points.
“This doesn’t mean nutrients no longer matter — they do,” said Kris Sollid, RD, IFIC senior director of research and consumer insights. “What the trend tells us is that Americans are increasingly layering new questions on top of old ones.”
New food pyramid sees high awareness, lower understanding
Eighty-three percent of Americans say they’ve seen the new Food Pyramid within three months of its rollout, outpacing recall of the prior MyPlate graphic (76 percent in 2024, 77 percent in 2025). But only 54 percent say they know at least a fair amount about it, and just 42 percent are familiar with the underlying Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
“The awareness-to-action gap is worth watching,” Sollid said. “Awareness of a graphic that represents dietary recommendations does not, on its own, translate into deeper understanding, improved diet quality or adoption of its key principles.”
‘Ultraprocessed’ goes mainstream
More than half of Americans (52 percent) now say they’re familiar with the term “ultraprocessed food,” up eight points from 2025 and 20 points from 2024. When deciding whether a food qualifies, most still check the package first – 56 percent read the ingredients list and 51 percent check the Nutrition Facts label – but reliance on personal judgment (23 percent, up 12 points) and AI assistants (23 percent, up five points) is rising fast.
“The rapid rise of ‘ultraprocessed’ shows how far and wide terminology can travel in today’s dialogue,” Reinhardt Kapsak said. “Still, familiarity with a term is not the same as a shared understanding of what it means or its application.”
Survey details
IFIC surveyed 3,005 U.S. adults ages 18-80 from March 22-April 8, 2026, and 1,006 Canadian adults ages 18-80 from March 27-April 8, 2026. Results were weighted separately by age, education, gender, race/ethnicity and region using 2025 Current Population Survey data for the U.S. and the 2021 Statistics Canada Census for Canada.