On November 15 the Honourable Jordan Brown, PEI Minister of Education, Early Learning and Culture, announced that the government would be launching a pilot, cost-shared program to develop "a comprehensive and sustainable school food program that will increase students' food literacy and provide them with food made from scratch using fresh, local, healthy Island products." The program will be supported by government and community partners.
The pilot program will be rolling out at 9 Island schools (ranging from elementary to high schools) by the fall of 2019.
The pilot is exploring the use of a model where food is prepared at a central school and delivered to satellite schools. The proposal is that programs will be coordinated by new non-profit organizations that would hire chefs and cooks to deliver the program. Students will be engaged in producing the food. The Minister also spoke to how the school food policy will be revised.
Following the Minister's presentation, other party leaders praised the initiative and spoke about how it was excellent policy to support the health and education of our students, create business for local farmers to sell their fresh produce, and support the health of the environment.
More information about this initiative is available from:
CBC News story - School food initiative expands to 9 Island schools.
PEICanada.com - Montague High serves up mouth watering dinner to promote school food initiative strategy