Item - 2012.HL15.4

This report provides an update on the Toronto Food Strategy and an overview of current initiatives. In the last year, Toronto Public Health has been collaborating with community partners as well as City staff from a number of divisions to lead, facilitate and support the implementation of priority food initiatives. The Food Strategy's work has focused on building partnerships among City staff, facilitating the development of more enabling regulatory environments for food initiatives and leveraging external funding to support innovative food system projects. Working with a variety of partners, the Food Strategy is engaged in initiatives such as a Mobile Good Food Market pilot project to make affordable, healthy produce more accessible in underserved neighbourhoods; supporting improved access to locally grown ethnocultural vegetables; promoting an integrated approach to food safety, food literacy and employment as a determinant of health through learner-centred food handler training in community settings, and enabling better access to kitchens, bake ovens and public space for urban agriculture, markets and community food programming.

Staff will continue to pursue activities based on the vision laid out in the "Cultivating Food Connections" report, but also inspired and informed by ongoing engagement with residents, community organizations and City staff on food systems issues. Staff will continue to work with partners to access external project-specific funding. The Medical Officer of Health will report back to the Board of Health annually on the progress of the Food Strategy.