TORONTO — St.Michael’s Hospital will be among the first of its kind to serve locally produced food on patient menus, starting today, July 27.

The new program, which will be launched with the serving of a dessert made with Ontario-grown blueberries, will grow to incorporate more locally produced items in the future.

After succumbing to government cuts in 2009, St. Michael’s Hospital has secured $55,000 from the province, via the Broader Public Sector Investment Fund, a program set up to allocate the money. “We made a commitment to increasing a footprint in the public sector for local foods,” affirmed Agriculture Minister Carol Mitchell, as quoted by TheStar.com.

According to My Sustainable Canada, a not-for-profit organization that does research and policy work on sustainable consumption, only 20 per cent of food in Ontario hospitals is local.

For details on the local-food movement in Ontario hospitals, read the complete Star story.