Food Rescue

Second Harvest works with grocery retailers, food manufacturers, food distributors, the Ontario Food Terminal, St. Lawrence Market, event planners, hotels and restaurants to prevent good food from going to waste.

These forward-thinking groups make a commitment to hunger relief and improving our environment by donating their excess, fresh food to Second Harvest instead of throwing it in the garbage.

The food we rescue and deliver is primarily perishable; fruits, vegetables, meat, cheese, juice, milk and more. Everything we deliver is perfectly good food that has been donated because it is close to expiry and likely won’t sell, overstock, mislabeled, discontinued, discounted or has damaged packaging.

That food is then delivered to a network of more than 200 social service agencies across the city. They are food banks, meal programs, children’s breakfast programs, community centers, drop-in centers, summer camps, women’s shelters, homeless shelters and centers for addiction and mental health treatment. There are many, many people in Toronto who, for a number of reasons, need social services. But it all starts with food – we all need it, but not all of us have it.