A prescription for healthy food? New program tackles food insecurity

Guest: Dr. Andrew Boozary, physician and executive director of UHN’s Gattuso Centre for Social Medicine

A pilot project called Food Rx, run in collaboration with the University Health Network (UHN) and the non-profit FoodShare, is aiming to tackle growing food insecurity in Toronto with a “doctor’s prescription” for regular home delivery of fresh fruit and vegetables. Nearly one in five Toronto households have inadequate or insecure access to food due to lack of money, and it has become a serious public health issue. According to the latest Who’s Hungry report by the Daily Bread and North York Harvest Food banks, visits to food banks skyrocketed by 47 per cent last year. Pilot programs like Food Rx are much needed but what does it say about a system where health care workers are providing prescriptions for food and will it work as food inflation continues to rise?

This episode was produced by Saba Eitizaz, Alexis Green and Matthew Hearn