THUNDER BAY — The Regional Food Distribution Association of Northwestern Ontario is expanding its capacity for providing food for needy area families.

Sometimes described as "a food bank for food banks," the RFDA operates out of a former supermarket on Syndicate Avenue South.

Recently it launched a new processing room that houses a $66,000 machine which can slice, dice and cube vegetables and fruit, enabling more donated food to be distributed before it spoils, or bagged and frozen for use later.

"It's not your average food processor," says executive director Volker Kromm.

The mining corporation Newmont helped cover the cost.

The RFDA has also received funding from the Ontario government to reduce the amount of food that goes to the landfill.

Kromm said the processor "makes the most fantastic french fries and carrot sticks, things that we would use for preparing soups. But now we can take more vegetables available in the system, process and freeze them, and store them now that we have an additional freezer. It gives us less waste, and more options to distribute food regionally."

He estimates that the new equipment produces three times the output of a team of volunteers over the course of a day.

It was purchased in Europe, and needed modifications to meet Canadian standards, but Kromm said the capital cost and the $35,000 spent on installation will be outmatched by the amount of food that's saved.

"We can do so much more processing. We do get a lot of food donated from producers in southern Ontario and across Canada. If PEI ever has a surplus of potatoes, I'm going to jump at it. We've had rave reviews from the Salvation Army and Shelter House, places like that. They love our french fries."

Kromm added "Before, we were throwing it in the dumpster. We could only salvage so much."

The RFDA is now setting its sights on setting up a new meat room.

"Before, we had whole frozen fish, but we couldn't manage that. When we have the meat room in place we'll be able to process it and cut it up into family-sized pieces that we can distribute to our members and in regional communities," Kromm said.

He said the time when food banks were seen as distributors of cookies and crackers is over, as "we've made a real big shift to healthy."

Local food banks have seen the demand double or even triple, which has led to the RFDA providing weekly food hampers.

It's one reason it has struck a deal to lease warehouse space from the owner of a neighbouring building.

In return for discounted rent, the RFDA will make some modifications to the building which will be used for storage of non-perishable food and household goods.

About the Author: Gary Rinne