FCC has donated $150,000 to Moisson Montréal to launch a fruit and vegetable bagging line to accept surplus fruits and vegetables and redistribute them to people in need.

“We are pleased to announce the official launch of a new fruit and vegetable bagging line with a capacity of 1,000 kilograms per hour. This semi-automated line, funded by the FCC donation, now allows Moisson Montréal to accept, in quantities unprecedented in the sector, surplus fruits and vegetables from producers in order to redistribute them to organizations that feed people and families in need,” said Richard D. Daneau, Executive Director, Moisson Montréal.

Between April 2020 and March 2021, Moisson Montréal distributed over $117,000,000 in food to Montreal organizations and to other Moissons and food banks in Canada, which 44 per cent more than during the same period the previous year.

“FCC is pleased to partner with Moisson Montréal, the largest food bank in the Canadian system, to meet this challenge,” said Louis Turcotte, Senior Director, Corporate and Commercial Financing, FCC. “We hope the organization can act as a hub for all of Eastern Canada. To donate large quantities of fresh (or frozen) fruit or vegetables, agri-food businesses can contact Moisson Montréal, which now has the equipment needed to accept these large-scale donations.”

Bonduelle collaborated in the project by donating foodstuffs to feed the bagging line, and by offering technical advice.

“Bonduelle will use this endeavour as an opportunity to replicate this model elsewhere in North America in order to give more back to the communities in which the company operates,” said Jean-Pierre Haché, Vice-President, Quality, Health and Safety and IT, Bonduelle. “We hope that this project will resonate with other manufacturers who wish to give back and are facing similar constraints. It is proof that everything is possible with the right people around the table to make it happen. We are grateful to all Bonduelle employees, current and former, as well as Moisson Montréal and FCC who collaborated to make this project a reality.”