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Fact sheet

For a more sustainable and resilient food procurement system

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A tool to encourage Quebec institutions to choose local and environmentally responsible food procurement!

For a more sustainable and resilient food procurement system

‘Key Recipes for Local and Environmentally Responsible Food Procurement in Quebec Institutions’ is a practical tool to both inspire and equip institutional and food service directors and managers, chefs, teachers, educators, stakeholders, partners, and all other institutional food actors to adopt sustainable and exemplary food procurement practices. The tool is made up of a series of eight fact sheets, one for each sector, developed by Équiterre, in collaboration with Aliments du Québec au menu and the Ministère de l’Agriculture, des Pêcheries et de l’Alimentation du Québec (MAPAQ). With these fact sheets, institutional food actors have the tools to make the shift towards more environmentally responsible food procurement practices, while serving as a model for other institutions and for society as a whole.

Goals of the project

The Key Recipes for Local and Environmentally Responsible Food Procurement in Quebec Institutions tool seeks to:

  • Collect and bring together a broad range of experiences, information and resources related to local and environmentally responsible food procurement in Quebec institutions;
  • Inspire, engage and mobilize Quebec institutions to take action with regards to local food procurement initiatives;
  • Offer detailed guidelines based on the experiences of Quebec institutions while presenting inspiring profiles of these pioneering institutions;
  • Provide Quebec institutions with the tools they need to increase their share of local and environmentally responsible food.

See the introductory fact sheet the Key Recipes for Local and Environmentally Responsible Food Procurement in Quebec Institutions for more information on:

  • Demand-side actors in the institutional market (overview of the sector);
  • Types of institutional food services (glossary);
  • Main challenges for institutional food procurement;
  • How to use the fact sheets (presentation of the different sections);
  • Methodology used to design the fact sheets;
  • References.

Who are the fact sheets for?

The vast majority of institutions in Quebec offer meals and/or snacks on site through a food service, or even several types of food services in some cases. While there are some similarities across sectors in the management of food services and food supply chains, each sector faces different issues. For this reason, we have chosen to present a separate fact sheet for each of the following sectors [1]:

This series of facts sheets for local and environmentally responsible food procurement brings together all the necessary elements to inspire and support institutions in making this shift. It seeks to guide a growing number of institutions toward practical resources that can help them increase the quantity of sustainable food that they can offer to their customers.

Consult the steps to follow or download the practical sheets for the different sectors directly on the Commun'Assiette portal web.

Specialized webinars

Équiterre and Aliments du Québec are seeking to inspire and equip institutional and food service directors and managers, chefs, teachers, educators, stakeholders, partners and all other institutional food actors to adopt sustainable and exemplary food procurement practices.

Specialized webinars have been given for the childcare, school, CEGEP, university, healthcare and workplace sectors. Each webinar explores the challenges and specific characteristics of procurement within each institutional sector and proposes a personalized approach. The webinar series concluded with a practical workshop.

The webinars (currently only in French) are available free of charge here:

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[1] Several types of food services can exist within each sector. Where applicable, each fact sheet refers to an alternative fact sheet that may contain information more relevant to the institution’s situation.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We would like to thank all the partners who together have made this project possible and created the synergy necessary to advance local and sustainable institutional food procurement all across Quebec. But most importantly, we thank those at the heart of it all – the pioneering institutions and food services that work hard every day to put local and environmentally responsible food on the plates of the thousands of Quebecers they serve.

See the list of all the institutional food stakeholders who participated in the development of the fact sheets here. Please note that this list is only available in French.

Other resources