WHO WE ARE

We are a coalition of parents who would like to improve the quality of food in Toronto’s Municipal Daycares which care for about 3000 children. We believe that feeding natural and local foods to children will have long lasting health effects and bring benefits to society as a whole. We also think city licensing should set a higher standard for daycare food quality for other daycares as well.

OUR CONCERN

Very cheap, often poor quality processed food is a problem in our daycares. We fear the drain on tax dollars for the healthcare costs of millions of children who grow up eating this kind of unnatural, nutrient depleted and chemically treated processed food as well as the physical and psychological stress that these children may endure as a result of adverse health effects of such a diet. Excessive use of canned food, processed foods with fillers and artificial additives, meat/dairy products from animals given growth hormones, routine antibiotics and fed an artificial diet are not items that are healthy to a growing child.

OUR CURRENT GOAL

“To change the food quality, delivery and standards in Toronto Municipal Daycares.”

We would like our children to be fed:

1. meat/dairy products from animals that were raised naturally, ethically and locally, without the use of hormones, antibiotics, or insane unhealthy diets
2. more local produce or as local as possible (no imported fruit during harvest time in Ontario and no imported lemon juice from Greece but fresh lemons from the US instead), no fish fillets from China etc.)
3. only fresh fruit should be served, not canned, e.g. no canned pineapple with added sugar from Thailand.
4. only whole grains and no bleached “enriched” white flour
5. further decrease of processed foods and more meals cooked on site from scratch (for processed foods, it is nearly impossible to trace the origin or quality of the individual ingredients).
6. no artificial fats such as hydrogenated oils, modified oils or margarine
7. no foods with artificial flavouring, refined sugar, nutritionally empty fillers, nitrates, BHT and other artificial additives
8. eliminate exposure to the endrocrine disrupter, “bispherol-A, by switching to the non-canned version (fresh, frozen, in a glass container, or cooked from scratch) for the following foods: fruits, vegetables, sauces, soup and fish.