Getting the junk out
The city wants to say goodbye to fatty potato chips and sugary pop in their rec centres.
Council is embarking on a pilot program that will introduce only healthy foods in the vending machines of 20 city-operated facilities.
The pilot project is part of the city’s search for a new vending machine food and beverage supplier after terminating the previous contract with Mr. Vending earlier this year.
Five locations, including arenas and community centres, in each of the city’s four districts will be designated for the test run.
In other community centres, council will require that 20 percent of all vending products are healthy foods, according to guidelines set out by Toronto Public Health.
Recommendations include snacks like dried fruits, grain-based bars with less than five grams of fat and 100 percent fruit juice, while avoiding foods like chocolate and potato chips, although an exception is made for baked chips that are low in saturated fat.
Government management committee chair Gloria Lindsay Luby said council will first see if potential vendors respond to the pilot project, then gauge the success of the 20 locations for one year.
It may be a tough sell to operators bidding on the contract, she said.
“The reality is this isn’t lunch or dinner for anybody, this is a snack,” she said, adding if people don’t want the healthier choices, they can find the typical snack foods elsewhere.
She said pricing must also be taken into consideration.
“Some of these products are more expensive and therefore that extra expense has to be passed along to the public,” Lindsay Luby said.
“Are they going to buy it?”
Council is also recommending the foods provided are culturally diverse to appeal to everyone’s taste buds.
“Not everybody likes O’Henry bars,” said Lindsay Luby. “So you try to cater to different tastes.”
A motion by Councillor David Shiner to make the vending machines peanut-product free was not passed.
Rohan Dove, of parks and rec business services said council preferred to keep a policy adopted in 2006 to simply offer smaller amounts of peanut-products because an outright ban may give a false sense of security that the vending machines are completely nut-free.