The Halton Food Council

Watch a video stream showing a presentation to Halton Regional Councillors by Lynn Roblin, Chair of the Halton Food Council. Learn about the state of food provision in Halton and the Halton Food Charter.  Begin 33 minutes into the webstream.

Canyon Creek’s Locavore Experiment - Also interesting is the beer vs. wine promotion

RBG’s Veggie Village Demonstrative Garden at Hendrie Garden. See a video clip HERE 

Spotlight on a Local Food Hero

Petra Kassun-Mutch and Fifth Town Artisan Cheese: (abbriged version of August 17, 2011 posting on CheeseLover.ca )

Petra Kassun-Mutch, a dynamic force in Ontario artisan cheese, is stepping down as president of Fifth Town Artisan Cheese, the award-winning company she founded seven years ago. She remains a 50% shareholder of the Prince Edward County-based business.

Kassun-Mutch was a key player in the founding of the Ontario Cheese Society and currently serves as interim chair of the recently formed Canadian Cheese Society. She told the society’s board that she now plans to be fully involved in its development as a voice for cheesemakers coast to coast.

Cape Vessey is one of the many award-winning cheeses brought to market during the inspired leadership of Petra Kassun-Mutch.

Fifth Town Artisan Cheese describes itself as an environmentally and socially responsible enterprise. It is Canada’s 8th B Corporation and achieved the highest score at time of certification.

In 2009, Fifth Town received the Premier’s Award for Agri-Food Innovation. It is Canada’s only Platinum LEED manufacturing facility and the only Platinum LEED dairy in the world. It has also received many awards for a variety of other initiatives including sustainable enterprise management, marketing, innovation, and architecture.

Fifth Town is positioned as a niche producer of fine handmade cheeses using fresh, locally produced goat and sheep milk. The product development processes reflect the spirit of the Fifth Town brand which aims to integrate traditional methods and craftsmanship ethics with local terroir. Situated on 20 acres of agricultural land on the eastern ridge of Prince Edward County.

The dairy opened in June 2008 with only five employees and three farms as suppliers. Since then, Fifth Town has grown to more than 16 employees with seven farm suppliers, and generates $1.5M in revenues annually.

Fifth Town Artisan Cheese in Prince Edward County is the only Platinum LEED dairy in the world.

The company was designed by Kassun-Mutch from the outset as a social purpose enterprise with governing values focused on leadership in sustainable enterprise management, local community contributions, and the triple bottom line. About 93% of the money spent to make, market and distribute its products stayed in the community.

Fifth Town has won more than 35 prestigious national and international awards including Grand Champion on several occasions for its unique cave-aged goat, sheep and cow milk cheeses. It took five of the 21 awards given to Ontario dairies at the recent American Cheese Society competition in Montreal. 

The Go Ontario! Granola Bar Story On EcoSource's quest to facilitate the availability of local food to schools in Peel Region, it became clear that the limiting factor in the flow of local food from field to table lies in the processing sector. Thus, EcoSource set out to recruit and work with processors to create new snacks, using ingredients from the Greenbelt and Ontario in general. Read More HERE. 

Longo Bros. Taste Ontario Sourced: Meet the Farmer

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• Go Local - Home
• Why, What & Where is Local Food?
• Local Food Certification
• Local Food Resources/Helpful Links
• Profiles of Local Food & Drink Suppliers
• What's in Season & Recipes
• How to Grow it Yourself & Halton's Community Gardens
• When & Where Local Food Events