Back At City Hall: Moving Food Procurement Plant-Based
Veg Food Bank director Nital Jethalal and Forward Food lead Riana Topan at Toronto City Hall.
“I do, first of all, want to start by thanking the deputants. This matter was brought to our attention last Fall, by many of the same people who are here today, pointing out the enormous opportunity that we do have at the City, to probably save money, but definitely improve health and reduce climate impacts by reducing the amount of beef that we purchase.”
- Dianne Saxe, Toronto City Councillor
That was how Councillor Saxe began introducing her two Motions, at the Infrastructure & Environment Committee, on Wednesday, July 3rd, 2024.
Toronto Vegetarian Food Bank was back at City Hall, speaking to a new climate-friendly food procurement policy report, based on a Motion that was adopted by City Council, after Veg Food Bank directors spoke at the Infrastructure and Environment Committee, in September 2023.
Director Nital Jethalal spoke (0:19:45), reiterating Veg Food Bank’s written recommendations to include more robust dollar-for-dollar cost data (comparing animal and plant proteins) in future reports, as well as setting a timeline for monitoring the City's progress on meeting its Cool Food Pledge and C40 Good Food Cities commitments.
Both suggestions were included by Councillor Saxe, as amendments to the original staff recommendations that accompanied the report.
You can view the Veg Food Bank submission, recommendations, and the amendments here.
The motions were both adopted by Toronto City Council.
Nital making motion amendment recommendations on behalf of Toronto Vegetarian Food Bank.
Policy moves slow when trying to change food procurement and culture across City-run childcare, shelters, and long-term care - especially in Canada's biggest city - which is why Toronto Vegetarian Food Bank focuses on providing plant-based culinary trainings for chefs in City-run institutions.
Councillor Saxe voiced her appreciation for the work that Veg Food Bank and Forward Food is doing with Toronto Shelter and Support Services (TSSS), and said during the committee meeting - regarding a collaboration with Seniors Services and Long-Term Care (SSLTC) -
"Thank you for offering to help. You now have an offer from Environment and Climate, to be your door into the City."
Councillor Dianne Saxe thanking Veg Food Bank and Forward Food for working with the City.
Councillor Saxe concluded by saying,
“I really appreciate all the offers for training and coaching. It’s a big change for lots of food providers to think about this a different way… And learning that you can in fact provide really appetizing meals that aren’t harder to prepare, that don’t blow our funding budget - this has been harder for a lot of people to understand.
I'll be continuing to follow this up, and we’ll now get regular reporting.
It's tremendously helpful that you’ve made us think about this, ask the questions, get some actions started. This is good news in a world where we sure could use some; so thank you.”
The report includes data comparing the protein content and emissions intensity of various animal and plant proteins - and is a big step forward for the City's understanding of the emissions intensity of the food that it provides through City Divisions.
The cost analysis in the report and a few other things can be refined further, but will take time, and the recommendation around this was included in the new motions, so we should see better data in future reports.
Veg Food Bank partner Riana Topan speaking on behalf of Forward Food.
Following Nital's deputation, Riana Topan (Forward Food / Humane Society International Canada) spoke to the importance of replacing beef with plant-based foods (rather than with chicken and fish) to maximize the opportunity to reduce emissions, as well as pressure on land, water, and biodiversity, and for improving health, nutrition and animal welfare.
As a result of the culinary trainings with TSSS the entire Toronto City-run shelter system signed on to the Forward Food Pledge, and is increasing their plant-based offerings by at least 260,000 meals per year.
In September 2024, Veg Food Bank and Forward Food started working with the City of Toronto’s Seniors Services and Long-Term Care (SSLTC) division to start replacing animal products with more plant based ingredients.
Veg Food Bank executive director Matt Noble, with Makayla Dewit, from Forward Food; City of Toronto, Seniors Services and Long-Term Care, food service and nutrition managers; and Sysco culinary specialists.
The City of Toronto’s Seniors Services and Long-Term Care division also has the opportunity to sign the Forward Food Pledge to increase plant-based foods by 20 per cent.
This could result in over 500,000 additional meals shifting from animal-based to plant-based.
Along with the 250,000+ meals that are shifting in the shelters, this could mean an increase of a combined 750,000 plant-based meals across City divisions, putting the City on track to meeting its Cool Food Pledge commitments.
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