More than 3,400 uneaten meals from hospitals in Jonquière and Chicoutimi have been given to people in need in the past three weeks, Agence QMI has learned.
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The CIUSSS du Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean has been participating for a few days in an initiative aimed at reducing food waste. The excess food, instead of being thrown away, is given to Moisson Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, which distributes it to different organisations.
“It is an objective that we have set ourselves and one of the initiatives that we wanted to implement”, explained Josée Vincent, interim coordinator of the food activities of the CIUSSS Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean. We have already been working on food waste for several months by looking at all our production processes to try to optimize and clearly identify our needs”.
Health authorities offer users three menu choices and since their number fluctuates frequently and some parameters are even more difficult to calculate, it is impossible for hospitals to produce meals without losses.
“In the cafeterias we know which menus are the most popular and we know that we have many more people in the winter than in the summer, let’s make some assumptions,” explained the interim head of food services at the Chicoutimi hospital, Nadia Harvey.
The food team leader of the same hospital, Marc Lapointe, adds that “there are also climate issues”. “If there’s a storm, we’ll have more people in the cafeteria, people will go out to eat less, so getting the weather right there is more difficult.”
Foods of all kinds
Moisson Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean is donated frozen meals that can feed an entire family, or even vegetables and mashed potatoes that serve as a side dish. Strict rules prevent hospitals from reheating a meal twice, while it is possible for organizations to do so. Products that are still good, but close to their expiration date, can also be returned rather than thrown away. The kitchen crews wrap the surpluses in dishes which are then collected by Moisson Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean.
The project is being implemented in the hospitals of Alma and Roberval, also in Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean. In January, the other regional hospitals and some CHSLDs will also follow.
