JANUARY 2018 • COUNTRY LIFE IN BC


35 Food recovery benefits livestock farmers


Food banks see only positives in providing food to farms for livestock by RONDA PAYNE KAMLOOPS – BC food banks are


changing how grocers and farmers think about food waste through programs that bring the two together.


The idea of recovering waste food rather than sending it to landfills began gaining ground in BC in 2007, says Bernadette Siracky, executive director with the Kamloops Food Bank. “It was fledgling; it was new,” she


recalls. “It wasn’t on anyone’s radar at the time. It was difficult to get stores on board.” Big retailers like Save-On-Foods


typically overstock to create attractive displays and satisfy anticipated consumer demand. But the excess food often goes to waste, with losses at retail averaging 10%. Sometimes the losses start before food hits the shelf thanks to long trucking times. “I think that was really key with one of our Save-On-Foods stores in town,” Siracky says. Staff who were throwing out the food were unhappy with the volume of waste, knowing the food could be used elsewhere, Siracky says. They became the most passionate supporters of the program Kamloops Food Bank launched in 2007 to address the issue. The structure is simple:


Temperature-controlled trucks collect product daily from local retailers and


bring it to the food bank for sorting. Protocols developed by Food Banks Canada in consultation with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency determines what’s suitable for human consumption, what farmers can have, and what ends up as compost or at the landfill. “We’re trying for zero waste,” says


Siracky. “We’re not there yet.” The program is already showing its


value, however, recovering 1.5 million pounds of food in 2016 that would otherwise have ended up at the dump. This is five times the 300,000 pounds recovered in 2007. Siracky says the food could have


sold at retail for $2.50 a pound, meaning $3.75 million worth of perishable food was put to good use. Approximately 500,000 pounds went to local farms raising a range of livestock, from ducks to cattle. “We had feedback from one farmer


that says he was able to buy more pigs because of this and the meat is just better,” Siracky says. “He mixes it with a feed that he used to purchase … so he’s able to make [his feed] last longer.”


While the initial capital outlay for


And livestock, too! Loaves and Fishes Food Bank staff member Jeff Goerz provides Dianne Stenberg a box of stale-dated fruit for her livestock. LOAVES AND FISHES FOOD BANK PHOTO


food banks to set up a food recovery program can be significant, the savings in terms of the food they don’t have to buy are worth it.


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