The Northern Fruit and Vegetable Program

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Reducing Food Waste

Food waste is a common challenge with the NFVP. Schools have shared they sometimes have excess produce and aren’t sure what to do with it.

Here are some ideas:

• Email nfvp@healthunit.ca and request a reduction in your produce amounts
• Use the produce in a recipe (this also allows students to be exposed to a food in a new way)
• Serve in your school’s student nutrition program
• Place whole fruit in baskets around the school for students to help themselves
• Send home with students
• Make available to school staff
• Donate to an organization
• Compost spoiled produce
• Share produce with another school

FAQs

Our school is receiving too much or not enough produce to serve our students – how do I request a change?

Email nfvp@healthunit.ca or call 1-800-563-2808 ext. 5376 to request a change to your produce amounts. Please include details about if the change is needed for all produce items or only certain ones.

Our school received a delivery of produce that is spoiled or damaged – how do I report it?

Please email nfvp@healthunit.ca and let us know. If you have pictures of labels from the shipping carton or package, please include them, as this helps the Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Growers Association follow up on the issue and make necessary changes.

Is there budget available to support schools with supplies (e.g., cutting boards, reusable serving containers, tongs)?

Funding is provided to each school board and education authority to supply schools with the necessary supports. Please connect with your school board/education authority or email nfvp@healthunit.ca for more information.

Classroom Resources

Health Unit Resources

• Fruit and Vegetable Fact Sheets / Feuilles de renseignements sur les fruits et les légumes
• Recipes / Recettes
• Resources Available to Borrow

Other Resources

Listed below you will find a variety of resources to help teach nutrition and physical activity in the classroom. All resources are available in English and French.

• BrightBites (Ontario Dietitians in Public Health)
• Kids’ Corner (Foodland Ontario)
• Teach Food First (English only): This British Columbia resource has guidance for teaching about food in a positive way and lesson plans for grade K-8 classrooms. A creative team from the homelands of the Coast Salish, Nuu-chah-nulth and Kwakwakaw’akw Families (as known as Vancouver Island) created Traditional First Nations Foods lesson plans.
• H&PE Curriculum Resources (OPHEA)

Food Safety Training (Free for NFVP Volunteers)

Each school involved in the NFVP must have at least one food handler that has completed the Food Safety Training Certification course (valid for five years). There are three ways school staff and volunteers can get their food safety certificate:

1. Online Course with Online Exam

An online course is available through In Good Hands (English) or En Bonnes Mains (French). It can be completed in about 8 hours over a 3-month period. After finishing the course, take the online exam using a computer with a webcam and microphone.

Those who choose this option will register and pay using a personal credit card, and be reimbursed by the NFVP upon completion. Please email nfvp@healthunit.ca at the end of the course.

2. Food Safety Certificate Course with Exam

The in-person Food Safety Training Certification course is 6½ hours of content plus an exam. The course cost of $45 will be covered by the NFVP.

3. Self-Study with Proctored Exam

The Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care has an online manual called Food Safety: A Guide for Ontario’s Food Handlers. Individuals can review the document and write a proctored exam through the Health Unit when ready. 

For information on proctored exam dates, call: 1-800-563-2808 ext. 5400

Evaluation Results

In 2017, students in grades 5-8 at some local schools completed a survey before the program started and at the end of the program. Here’s what we found:

• 94% of students reported that they like to eat fruit
• 68% of students reported that they like to eat vegetables
• Yet, only 19% of students recorded consuming the recommended number of vegetables and fruit servings from Canada’s Food Guide
• 90% of students were very willing or willing to try new fruit and vegetables that they’d never tried before
• 91% of students enjoyed receiving fruit or vegetables in their classroom two times a week
• Students’ preferences increased for fruit offered as part of the program

This shows that exposure to fruits and vegetables (as in the case of the NFVP) may help to increase likeability, acceptance, and consumption of these foods.