The BC Government is rolling out a new initiative to ensure more food served at hospitals and care facilities is from British Columbia.

The Feed BC initiative is being launched across the Interior Health Authority, including Kamloops.

Andrew Pattison is Interior Health’s Corporate Director and says most of the changes under Feed BC will be immediate.

“The key is taking a multi-faceted look at it and including our partners such as our group purchasing organizations that we have contracts through and our distributors to bring them into the conversation with the ministry,” he said.

“That way we can navigate any of those barriers, and in some case perhaps get reprieves from contracts or allow us to be as flexible as we can to find more items.”

Over time, the government hopes to expand the program to other health authorities as well as public institutions like universities and colleges.

“I think it’s a trend across food services sector whether it’s in hospitals or retail or otherwise that the more local produce we can get, the better it is, and the better received it is by the people consuming it,” Pattison added.

He estimates that right now about 30 per cent of their food is sourced from British Columbia.

The government says the move will help support the $14-billion agriculture, seafood, and food processing industry in the province.

As part of the Feed BC initiative, Pattison says Interior Health has already made the switch to B.C. shelled eggs and B.C. ground beef as part of its institutional buying plan.

Interior Health will get over $350,000 in funding over the next year to help implement the initiative.

That’ll include a project facilitator, patient information, procurement specialist services and a food-processing specialist who will support B.C. processors in meeting the product needs of health-care facilities.