A recent Marketplace documentary on TV drew attention to the amount of food waste there is in our country, a total of 31 billon dollars. In the United States it is 70 billion. These are outrageous figures especially when there is so much hunger in the world.
There is always a cry to feed the hungry, with many donations made for this cause, but when a person hears of all the wastage that there is we ask the question: why is this is not donated to food banks and shelters?
Food banks have exploded across the nation, and ‘feed the children’ school programs are on the rise for ones going to school hungry. What a shame in Canada!
There are programs around to encourage usage of especially fresh produce. Many centres have a Good Food Box Club where food is obtained at a wholesale price or donated from greenhouses and farmers. Volunteers sort the food at an outlet and put it in boxes varying in sizes from small, regular, and large. These boxes are to be picked up by the members in this program monthly on a set date. The small box is for one to two people for $10, the regular box is for three to four people for $15, and the large is for five to six people for $20.
A good selection of various fruits and vegetables is placed in each box with a considerable saving for the customer. Often vegetables, which are classified as ‘misfits’, are sold at a reduced rate by greenhouses to put them to good use, thus saving them from the garbage.
On the outskirts of Medicine Hat is a dehydrating facility operating mainly by volunteers where excessive produce is converted into mixes and shipped to developing nations. Once again, instead of excessive produce being thrown out, it is converted into food in a different form where the lifespan is extended.
