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Media contact: Angie Timmons, Hennepin County Environment and Energy, 612-845-0323
Media contact: Andrea Hills, The Food Group, 651-354-3845
Media contact: Alex Buck, Taher Inc., 319-830-0613
Observe as chefs, partners and volunteers prepare leftover fresh vegetables to freeze for food shelves this winter.
Sunday, August 13
12:30 - 1:30 p.m.
- Minneapolis Farmers Market, 312
East Lyndale Avenue North, Minneapolis, at the North end of market behind
stall 318
- Chef Chris Loew will select
about 1,000 pounds of vegetables from The Food Group‘s excess produce
rescue to take to Taher’s Culinary Center to cook and freeze.
3 - 4 p.m.
- Taher Inc. Culinary Center,
10205 51st Avenue North, Plymouth
- Professional chefs will
volunteer to prepare the surplus produce.
Additional event notes
- To enter the kitchen, visitors
must wear closed-toe shoes and remove all jewelry.
- Hair nets are required and will
be provided.
 About the program
August is peak growing season in Minnesota, which means many farmers have excess produce that will spoil before the next market opportunity. Although hunger relief agencies partner with markets to rescue produce and divert it to food shelves, there is still an overabundance of fresh vegetables this time of year that end up at a composting facility or in the trash.
Knowing that food shelves are in desperate need of ready-to-use produce in the winter, Chef Chris Loew of Taher Inc. saw an opportunity to volunteer his team's culinary skills to rescue the best of local veggies and make them available to those in need over the winter. This Sunday, Loew will work with The Food Group’s produce rescue program to select excess produce and work with volunteers to wash, cut, cook, package and freeze it. This winter, The Food Group will distribute the produce to food shelves and meal programs throughout Minnesota and Wisconsin during winter months when produce is in short supply.
Loew, along with his partners at Hennepin County and The Food Group, invite the media to see this unique food rescue operation in action.
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 About the partners
Taher Inc. is a leader in the food service management industry and a proud partner of The Food Group and Hennepin County to combat hunger and food insecurity in Minnesota. A team of 10 volunteers led by six Taher chefs will use their skills to help prepare almost 1,000 pounds of food for those in need.
One in ten Minnesotans struggles to reliably put food on the table. The Food Group is a nonprofit organization with a mission of fighting hunger and nourishing the community. Through their network of food shelves, meal programs, bulk-food buying program and a certified organic farm, The Food Group focuses on equity, access, and nutrition issues related to food and hunger. They strive to prevent food waste whenever possible by redirecting surplus food to those in need.
Preserving this food also helps the environment by preventing waste. Food waste is the most prevalent material in the trash by far, representing about 20 percent of the trash by weight. When food is wasted, the water, energy, fertilizer and cropland that went into producing the food is also wasted. Hennepin County has identified preventing food waste as a priority strategy to get to its goal of sending zero waste to landfills. The county provided funding to support the costs of the bags, boxes and other storage and production costs for this effort.
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Note to editor: Original files of photos featured in this advisory are available upon request.
Look for more news on the Hennepin County website at www.hennepin.us/news.
Discover how we're making a difference in our communities at www.hennepin.us/stories.
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