Heather Wright/The Independent

Twenty-five per cent of Lambton County households can’t afford the food on their table.

That’s according to Lambton Public Health’s annual food affordability study. Over a week in May 2025, county officials collected food pricing data in grocery stores in Sarnia, Petrolia, Corunna and Forest for 61 items which should feed a family of four, according to Canada’s Food Guide. 

In his report to council, Jordan Banninga, manager of health promotion, said the average family of four requires $1,197 per month or $275 a week, to feed two adults and two children. 

That is slightly lower than the cost in 2024 but is still higher than 2023 when food prices took a big jump.

The most startling fact, says Sarnia City/County Councillor Brian White, is the number of families considered food insecure. Banninga says 25.4 per cent of families in Lambton are food insecure, up from 13.6 per cent just four years ago. 

White called that a “significant increase” as the facts were shared at the March 4 meeting of Lambton County council.

Families that are considered food insecure worry about running out of food or have a limited food selection or go a day or more without food because they didn’t have the money to buy it.

Banninga says renters, low-income earners, people on social assistance, families led by a single mom and racial groups are most likely to be food insecure. Low income households spend up to 46 per cent of their after-tax income on food. Medium income earners spend about 12 per cent of their after-tax income on food.

Banninga says in the report, the problem of high food cost is heightened because people are also paying high rents. 

“Efforts to address the root cause of food insecurity must focus on the underlying financial barriers, otherwise households will continue to experience food insecurity and the health related consequences,” he wrote.

White asked what “next steps that we can either do as a board of health or external services to work to a solution” to the problem.

Banninga says the health unit looks at the current state of food affordability and recognizes its impact on health, sharing its findings with community partners.