April 2011 Food Security-Kitsilano

Neighbourhood House

Accessing Recovered/ Surplus Food on the Westside:

Questions and Answers

What are the liabilities of being a food donor?

Are there businesses you know who have fresh or prepared food to donate to your
organization, but are nervous about the liability? BC's 'Donation of Food Act' protects
them, and allows good food to go where it can be best used.
The act provides that a person who donates food or who distributes donated food is not
liable for injuries or death resulting from the consumption of the donated food unless the
person intended to injure the recipient of the food or acted recklessly in donating or
distributing the food. For the complete act document go to:
http://www.leg.bc.ca/36th1st/1st_read/mem203-1.htm
How can I find out about health risks from using recovered foods?
Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) provides resources on Food Safety. VCH has
documents online on Food Safety Plans, Food Safety with Soup Kitchens, Food Safety
with Food Banks, and more at http://www.vch.ca/your_environment/food_safety/
Better yet, contact your local Health Officer to build a custom food safety plan for the
specific characteristics of your operation.
For Vancouver contact: Brian Johnson, Senior Health Officer, Vancouver Coastal Health:
(604) 675-3802
Where can my organization access recovered food for our programs?
Listed below are a just a few of the potential options for accessing recovered food.
a. Quest Food Exchange
Quest partners with local food wholesalers, restaurants, airlines, freight lines,
supermarkets and farmers. These partners donate food to Quest that would otherwise
have gone to waste. At Quest, we use our own trucks to rescue this food and take it back
to our warehouse facility. The food is then sorted for storage, processing, meal
preparation and re-distribution.
Quest assists individuals each month through partnerships with local Social Service
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Agencies by providing their clients with access to our low-cost grocery stores and by
delivering raw food materials to agencies for their own meal programs. In this manner,
those helping Quest are also helping hundreds of other agencies and their clients.
Contact Information: Phone: 604-602-0186 Fax: 604-682-3494
Email: info@questoutreach.org
Website: http://www.questoutreach.org/
b. Shared Harvest (FarmfolkCityfolk)
An online food hub for local food where farmers, retailers, fishers, restaurants, charities,
schools, and community members source and list food and agricultural products for sale
or donation.
Contact: Erin Nichols (604) 874-4420, www.SharedHarvest.ca;
erin@farmfolkcityfolk.ca
c. The Vancouver Fruit Tree Project
The Vancouver Fruit Tree Project’s mission is to be part of a sustainable network where
the community connects to harvest fruit that would otherwise go to waste and distribute it
to those in need.
The VFTP harvests and shares fresh, local fruit. In 2009, 92 volunteers, 15 community
partners, and over 45 tree owners came together to harvest and distribute 7,300 pounds of
fruit. We distribute the fruit to community partners involved in food security activities.
Contact information: To register as a partner email: info@vancouverfruittree.com; call:
604-872-5591, for information: Facebook: Vancouver Fruit Tree Project;
d. Local Grocery stores, bakeries, coffee shops, etc.
Below is a list of a small selection of businesses on the Westside that offer food
donations and that may have quantities available for new organizations.

BUSINESS CONTACT TYPE OF DONATED FOOD

Speak with Community
Capers Community Market: Relations: 604-739-6676 produce, baked goods, packaged
2285 West 4th Avenue x705; sandwiches, soups, salads
Choices Market: 2627
16th Ave W Head office 604.952.2266 produce, baked goods
Cobbs Bread: 2320
West 4th Avenue 604- 714-4070 breads

Greens Organic and Natural 604-637-3307

Market: 1978 West Broadway office@greensmarket.ca some produce, baked goods

Higher Grounds Coffee House:

2300 W Broadway 604-733-0201 muffins
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Ask for the owner: 604-731-

IGA 2286 West Broadway 5750 Frozen meats, canned goods
Safeway 2315 west 4th 1-800-safeway produce, baked goods
Stongs Markets: 4560
Dunbar Street 604-266-5191 Milk, eggs, juice and ham, produce
Terra Breads Bakery 2380 4 Speak with manager: 604-
Ave W 736-1838 bread/baked goods

5. Food Runners
Community Angel Food Runners is the prepared and perishable food recovery program
of the GVFBS. Through the Community Angel Food Runners, we receive quality food
donated from restaurants, hotels, cafeterias and schools. We then deliver the food to
meal-providing agencies. Food Runner saves 725,000 lbs of food yearly, creating 1.25
million meals for people in need. For more information on this program go to
https://www.foodbank.bc.ca/main/?foodRunners

Contact: email to foodrunners@foodbank.bc.ca or call 604-834-7457

How do we create a relationship with a potential source for recovered food?

Although a business may already donate all of its recovered/surplus food to other
agencies, they often offer their donations on a rotating basis to a number of agencies
throughout the month or week. By building a relationship with the business you can
ensure that you will be notified if a space becomes available, or the business may expand
their donations to include your organization. You can also explore smaller businesses,
like small grocery stores, restaurants, and coffee shops, many of which remain untapped.
When meeting with a business owner it is important to come with a strong plan that
includes an understanding of the benefits for both the donating business and your
organization.
Some potential benefits for a business that donates recovered/surplus food include:
- a significant reduction in waste removal/ composting costs
- employee satisfaction: knowledge that food which previously would have gone to
waste, now benefits vulnerable members of the local community and reduces costs of
under-funded social service agency providers.
- a tax-receipt for its food donations from the service agency
- raised awareness and social capital of the donating business through social services
agencies publicity avenues describing the donation relationship

We do not have sufficient storage space or transportation resources to support the

use of recovered or surplus food. What can we do?
Transportation and storage of recovered or surplus foods is one of the most challenging
parts in accessing the benefits of food recovery. Many service agencies do not have
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sufficient refrigeration space, vehicles, or staffing resources to pick-up, transport, and

store donated food until it can be used for meal programs.
Presently, there are no easy answers to these challenges. However, a few suggestions
from local service agencies include the following:
- Pool resources with other service agencies to share refrigeration costs and cost
sharing for vehicles and drivers.
- Coordinate food pickups and deliveries with other collaborating agencies
- Speak with local grocery stores, coffee shops, bakeries, to see if they have spare
refrigeration space they can donate
- Deep freezers sometimes can bought used, online on Craigslist, for a low-price
- Post transportation and food storage needs on ‘Shared Harvest’ website
- Organize community kitchens to process fresh foods into meals that can be frozen
and served at later dates

What are other Food Recovery Models and Resources beyond Vancouver?

1.“Fork it Over!” (Portland, Oregon):

Check out ‘Fork It Over!’, Portland’s metro's food donation program to reduce hunger
and waste in the Portland metropolitan area. For all sorts of information and ideas on
Food look at their website: http://www.oregonmetro.gov/index.cfm/go/by.web/id=9887

2.King County’s (Seattle area) municipal ‘edible food’ surplus program:

http://your.kingcounty.gov/solidwaste/garbage-recycling/edible-food.asp