Community Health Services Department / Child Health & Dental Services Department

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Gaining Support for Sarnia-Lambton Food Charter

This page was reviewed or revised on Wednesday, November 16, 2011 11:04 AM

Sarnia, ON – The Sarnia-Lambton Food Coalition (SLFC) is building support for the Sarnia-Lambton Food Charter from community residents, organizations, groups, and local business to ensure local municipalities and Lambton County Council support a sustainable food system.

Residents of Lambton County can view the food charter and show support by signing the online petition at www.lambtonhealth.on.ca. Residents can also join the SLFC on facebook®.

"This is about our food and our future, so creating a food charter makes plenty of sense," says Lana Smith, Public Health Nutritionist with the County of Lambton Community Health Services Department, and SLFC co-chair. "A food charter gets us thinking about where we get our food, how we can produce it in a sustainable way, and how we can work to ensure that safe, healthy, culturally acceptable food is available to everyone."

The food charter describes Lambton's vision of how a healthy food system should function, and how policies and programs can contribute to support a healthier population.

The central principles of the Sarnia-Lambton Food Charter are built around:

• Health: Accessing safe, affordable and healthy food.
• Education: Learning food skills, growing, cooking and preserving food, and meal planning.
• Sustainable Economic Development: Promoting local food access, farmers markets, farm gate sales and grocery stores.
• Environmental Health: Protecting local food production, farmland and freshwater resources.
• Culture: Celebrating food diversity.
• Social Justice: Supporting food as a basic right.

The charter evolved from input and suggestions provided at the 2010 Sarnia-Lambton Food Summit to develop a sustainable food system plan. This plan can be viewed at www.lambtonhealh.on.ca. Financial support from the Heart and Stroke Foundation made this project possible.

For more information about Lambton County, visit www.lambtononline.ca.

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Contact:
Lana Smith
Public Health Nutritionist
County of Lambton
Telephone: 519 344-2062 ext. 2107
email: lana.smith@county-lambton.on.

Main Office 160 Exmouth Street Point Edward, ON, Canada N7T 7Z6 Phone: 519 383-8331 Toll free: 1-800-667-1839 Fax: 519 383-7092

Lambton Shared Services Centre 150 N. Christina Street Sarnia, ON N7T 8H3 Phone: 519 344-2057 Toll Free: 1-800-387-2882 Fax: 519 344-2025

Forest Office 59 King Street West Forest, ON, Canada N0N 1J0 Phone: 519 786-2148 Fax: 519 786-2149