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COUNTRY LIFE IN BC • JULY 2019


Online platform gives food a second chance Food banks, farmers benefit as surplus food products saved from landfills


by RONDA PAYNE


MAPLE RIDGE—Almost 100 BC farmers are receiving daily deliveries through a three-year-old platform designed to divert unsold perishable food from landfills. Jessica Regan, co-founder and CEO


of platform developer Vancouver- based Mesh Exchange Inc., says the FoodMesh food recovery program hit its stride last fall when Save-On-Foods came on board as a partner. She was at a regional announcement in Maple Ridge on June 7 to launch the program’s expansion into Pitt Meadows, Maple Ridge and Mission. “[Save-On-Foods] came to us with a challenge. They had no sense of consistency and ability to track that food,” Regan says. “They needed a tool for metrics for social responsibility. We built a custom app for Save-On and their stores and a dashboard so they can see their shrink.” Shrink, or perishable food waste, was an invisible problem managed by throwing it into the waste compactor for shipment to landfills. By working with Save-On-Foods, FoodMesh trained staff on sorting. As a result, that food has a more valuable end. Through their customized dashboard, Save-On-Foods store management can see how much food is being diverted from landfills – whether to feed people through food banks or soup kitchens, feed farm livestock or


recovered food. “These are what we call impact


metrics,” says Regan. Perishable food is given to close to 100 small-scale farmers to feed livestock while large-scale farmers make use of the FoodMesh online marketplace to sell surplus products that haven’t yet passed their expiry date.


Regan describes the marketplace as a closed network of verified users where farmers can sell or donate product. The app has been refined and improved over the past three years to make it more sophisticated and user-friendly for nearly 500 users, including farmers, restaurants and foodbanks. “We’re kind of affecting farmers in


two ways,” she explains. “We’re servicing the big guys and the small guys. FoodMesh consists of everybody across the food chain.” By making use of technology,


FoodMesh CEO Jessica Regan is helping grocery chains like Save-On-Foods reduce waste by helping them recycle their surplus produce. [RONDA PAYNE PHOTO]


contribute to biogas, meat rendering or other industrial operations. “Food is not waste,” she says.


“There’s no need for waste. There’s always an end-user. There’s a natural order of it: humans, then farmers, then industrial.”


Measuring the impact The FoodMesh dashboard tracks


four things: volume of weight diverted from landfills, destination (charity, farm, etc.), carbon dioxide emissions avoided, and meals created from the


FoodMesh is helping give food to those who need it and ensure unsold perishable products don’t end up in landfills. The retail food recovery program is now live in Kelowna, Prince George, Chilliwack, Vernon, Pitt Meadows, Maple Ridge and Mission with plans to expand into other communities in the future. The marketplace is available to those throughout BC as well as some regions of Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec.


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