What happens to perfectly good food when it can no longer be sold?
For far too much fresh produce, the answer is still landfill.
But in Greater Victoria, British Columbia, The Mustard Seed Street Church is showing what can happen when food rescue, community support and smart food preservation come together.
Since 1975, The Mustard Seed has supported people experiencing poverty and food insecurity across Greater Victoria. Today, its work stretches far beyond a traditional food bank, connecting rescued food with people and organisations throughout the community.
At the centre of it all is a beautifully simple idea:
Good food should feed people, not landfill.
Want to Support The Mustard Seed?
Before we share more of their story, if you would like to help The Mustard Seed continue supporting people across Greater Victoria, there are several practical ways to get involved.
Donate
One-time and monthly donations help support The Mustard Seed’s food programs, meals, community services and wider work
https://mustardseed.ca/donate/
Food Rescue in Victoria, BC: More Than Saving Food From Landfill
The scale of The Mustard Seed’s food rescue operation is extraordinary.
Its Food Security Distribution Centre rescues and receives more than 10,000 pounds of food every weekday from local grocery stores and other donors.
That food is sorted and redistributed through a network of more than 70 partner and social-service organisations, helping rescued food reach people throughout Greater Victoria.
The Mustard Seed reports rescuing approximately 2.1 million pounds of food annually.
But behind those numbers is something much simpler: food that still has value is being given another opportunity to be used.
Fresh produce can create a particular challenge.
Fruit and vegetables may arrive beautifully ripe but already approaching the end of their fresh shelf life. Sometimes there is simply more food available at one moment than can immediately be distributed.
That is where preservation can create another opportunity.
Giving Rescued Food More Time
Dehydration is one of the oldest methods of preserving food, but within a modern food-rescue program it can have a very practical purpose.
Fresh fruit with a short remaining shelf life can potentially become dried fruit, fruit leather or another preserved product.
Vegetables can be dried for later use.
Herbs can be preserved rather than discarded.
Surplus ingredients can be transformed into something useful simply by giving them more time.
For an organisation moving large volumes of rescued food, that extra time can matter.
It is not about replacing the fresh food The Mustard Seed already distributes every day.
It is simply another way of asking:
How can we make the most of food that has already been grown, harvested, transported and donated?
How Dehydration Can Help Reduce Food Waste
Removing moisture from suitable food can significantly extend its usable life and create an entirely different product from an ingredient that may otherwise have had only days remaining.
A surplus of apples can become dried apple slices.
Ripe fruit can be pureed and transformed into fruit leather.
Herbs can be dried for later use.
Vegetables can become dried ingredients for future meals, soups or powders.
For food-rescue organisations, techniques like these create another option when suitable fresh ingredients cannot all be used immediately.
Where BenchFoods Fits In
For us at BenchFoods, this is a particularly meaningful use of our commercial dehydrators.
We normally see our equipment used by farmers, food producers, pet-treat businesses, jerky makers, growers and manufacturers.
At The Mustard Seed, the purpose is different.
The dehydrator is simply another tool their team can use to help extend the life of suitable rescued produce and explore alternative ways of using food that may otherwise have had a very short window.
It may mean transforming surplus fruit into fruit leather.
It may mean preserving produce for another use.
Most importantly, it gives their team another option.
Our role in this story is a small one.
The incredible work belongs to The Mustard Seed team, its volunteers, food donors, drivers, community partners and supporters who make this system work every day.
We are simply incredibly proud that BenchFoods equipment can play a small part in helping them get more value from food that is already available.
Turning Surplus Produce Into Something Useful
Food waste is not always created because food has suddenly become unusable.
Often, there is simply a mismatch between how much food is available and how quickly it needs to be eaten.
A seasonal glut can create hundreds of kilograms of produce at once.
Fruit can ripen faster than it can be distributed.
A donation may arrive when storage is already stretched.
Preservation changes that equation.
Instead of measuring the remaining life of suitable food in days, dehydration can create another pathway for using it.
And importantly, food preservation sits alongside - not instead of - the extraordinary fresh-food redistribution already happening throughout Greater Victoria.
A Food Bank Built Around Dignity
What makes The Mustard Seed’s work so important is that food rescue is only one part of a much bigger picture.
Its programs support people experiencing food insecurity and difficult circumstances throughout Greater Victoria, while its wider network helps connect rescued food with organisations already serving people within their communities.
Behind every box of rescued food is a person or family.
Behind every delivery is someone giving their time.
Behind every donated dollar is another person choosing to help.
And behind the enormous quantities of food moving through the organisation is a network of staff, volunteers, businesses and community partners deciding that good food should be put to good use.
Food Waste and Food Insecurity Are Two Problems We Can Address Together
Food rescue cannot solve every cause of food insecurity.
But it can help address one obvious contradiction: good food being discarded while people within the same community are struggling to afford groceries.
Organisations like The Mustard Seed provide the infrastructure required to connect those two sides of the problem.
There are trucks.
Warehouses.
Cold storage.
Commercial kitchens.
Volunteers.
Food-bank teams.
Community organisations.
And preservation tools that can help suitable food remain useful for longer.
This is why dehydration can have such an interesting place within food rescue.
It is an ancient preservation technique being used within a very modern challenge:
How You Can Support The Mustard Seed in Victoria
The Mustard Seed’s work is powered by community support. If you’d like to help, there are a few simple ways to get involved.
Donate
Support The Mustard Seed’s food programs and community services.
Volunteer
Give your time across The Mustard Seed’s food and community programs.
Donate Food
Businesses, farms and organisations can support the Food Security Distribution Centre with larger food donations.
Learn more about food donations
Get Involved
Start a fundraiser, food drive or community partnership.
Giving Good Food More Time
For BenchFoods, seeing dehydration used as one small part of The Mustard Seed’s work is a powerful reminder of why food preservation matters.
Sometimes it preserves a harvest. Sometimes it creates something new. And sometimes it simply gives good food more time to do what it was grown to do:
Feed someone.
