More locally grown produce added to Vancouver Island hospital, care-home meals
Island Health is increasing the amount of local food that's served in meals at hospitals and long-term care facilities in the Vancouver Island region.
Produce from Galey Farms in Saanich and Michell's Farm in Saanichton are being added to deliveries for Island Health facilities in Parksville, Qualicum Beach, Chemainus, Cumberland and Campbell River.
Other local farms are also included in the pilot project, which was developed by Island Health with input from Islands West and the Island Vegetable Co-op Association, according to the province.
"Having access to fresh, high-quality food in hospitals and care facilities helps people heal," said Adam Walker, MLA for Parksville-Qualicum, in a statement Friday.
"This initiative also benefits farmers, producers and people across B.C. by strengthening our food supply chain and supporting local jobs," he said.
According to the province, nearly one third of all food purchased by the B.C. health-care system is locally produced or processed.
The province adds that steps are taken to ensure that all food is up to its safety standards, regardless of whether it is sourced locally or abroad.
Every year, Island Health serves approximately four million meals to patients and residents on Vancouver Island alone.
The health authority has also added new recipes to its meals that make use of Vancouver Island produce it is receiving, according to the province. The recipes include:
- Potatoes – potato salad, roasted nugget potatoes
- Carrots – maple glazed carrots
- Beets – borscht, orange glazed beets
- Cabbage – coleslaw, braised red cabbage
- Zucchini – chocolate zucchini bread
"Having our loved ones able to enjoy more local and seasonal food while in hospital or living in long-term care is an important part of healing and staying connected," said B.C. Minister of Agriculture Lana Popham.
"What started as a simple idea has now grown into an important and successful program," she said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
For the first time in report's history, Canada's air quality worse than U.S.
Air quality in Canada is now worse than in the U.S., according to the 6th Annual World Air Quality Report. Of the 15 most polluted cities in the two countries, 14 were in Canada.
A newspaper says video of Prince William and Kate should halt royal rumour mill. That's a tall order
Prince William and his wife Catherine have been filmed at a farm shop near their Windsor home, The Sun newspaper reported -- the first footage of Kate since she had abdominal surgery for an unspecified condition two months ago.
WATCH LIVE As former prime minister Mulroney lies in state, public tributes in Ottawa begin
Members of the public who wish to pay tribute to Brian Mulroney can visit his casket in Ottawa starting this afternoon.
BREAKING Roy McMurtry, former Ontario attorney general, dies at 91
CTV News has confirmed that former Ontario attorney general Roy McMurtry has died.
Hertz CEO out following electric car 'horror show'
The company, which announced in January it was selling 20,000 of the electric vehicles in its fleet, or about a third of the EVs it owned, is now replacing the CEO who helped build up that fleet, giving it the company’s fifth boss in just four years.
'You ask for your money, they disappear': Ontario man loses $17K to AI crypto scam
A Toronto man is spreading the word of a cryptocurrency scam that lures victims using AI-generated news sites after he lost $17,000 in investments.
Images taken deep inside melted Fukushima reactor show damage, but leave many questions unanswered
Images taken by miniature drones from deep inside a badly damaged reactor at the Fukushima nuclear plant show displaced control equipment and misshapen materials but leave many questions unanswered, underscoring the daunting task of decommissioning the plant.
DEVELOPING Canada's annual inflation rate ticked down to 2.8 per cent in February, defying expectations
Statistics Canada says the annual inflation rate edged down to 2.8 per cent in February.
High thoughts: The habits of Canadian cannabis users are revealed in a new StatCan report
Statistics Canada has conducted a series of surveys to measure the impacts of legalized cannabis since the Cannabis Act took effect in 2018. The latest one, the 2023 National Cannabis Survey, sheds light on users' preferences and habits last year.