Item - 2013.HL25.3

This report provides an update on the Toronto Food Strategy and an overview of current initiatives to support better access to healthy, affordable and culturally appropriate food for all residents. A small interprofessional team of staff leads and coordinates Food Strategy initiatives.   Over the last year, Toronto Public Health has focused on building and strengthening connections with community and institutional partners, City staff, the private sector and other orders of government. TPH has also continued to integrate the Food Strategy into public health activities. In the last year, TPH has been successful in securing external funding from the Healthy Communities Fund (Ministry of Health & Long-Term Care), McConnell Foundation, Metcalf Foundation, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the International Development Research Centre to implement several key initiatives. This funding has enabled TPH to collaborate with numerous partners to lead, facilitate and support food initiatives such as the Mobile Good Food Market that will launch a retrofitted Wheel-Trans vehicle, donated by the TTC, this fall, to make low cost, high quality produce available in underserved neighbourhoods. There has also been increased emphasis on identifying opportunities to support corner stores to sell healthier foods, initiating research on innovative social financing models, extending the reach of the Community Food Works program, furthering research and action on World Crops and partnering with the community food sector on more efficient procurement strategies. TPH will continue to collaborate with diverse partners to pursue effective strategies to support a healthier, more sustainable food system, while also continuing to seek external project-specific funding. The Medical Officer of Health will report back to the BOH annually on the progress of the Food Strategy.