News - May 2012

Presentation to the Rapporteur spécial des Nations Unies sur le droit à l'alimentation

On Sunday morning, May 6th, 2012, Ms. Marie-Paule Duquette, Executive Director, will present to Mr. Olivier de Schutter, Rapporteur spécial des Nations Unies sur le droit à l'alimentation, the work of the Dispensary on the Nutritious Food Basket (NFB) and what it means in terms of food security for low-income households.

 

News - April 2012

Étude sur la détermination du coût du panier à provisions nutritif dans trois régions du Québec

Visit our Publications page to read the report of this study subsidized with a grant from the Direction générale de santé publique of the ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux . The price of the foods in the MDD Nutritious Food Basket (NFB) was tallied in 140 stores in the Côte-Nord, Capitale-Nationale and Mauricie/Centre-du-Québec regions in the week of October 5 to 9, in 2009.

  • The study confirms the influence of store size on the cost of food: less expensive in large ones.
  • Also shown is a tendancy of higher cost in rural areas compared to cities, probably linked to the fact that large stores are not found in rural localities.
  • Innovative in the food market place, the study also analyzed the NFB cost in association with material and social defavorisation : defavorisation influences the cost and, analyzed in combination with store size, is responsible of 58% of the variation of the cost of the NFB.
  • Finally, in accordance with a previous study in the Montreal region, the study shows that low-income families are at risk of food insecurity : the NFB cost represents at least 40% of their income while these housesholds actually spend only 20% of it for food.

Please note: The report of the study is available in French only. The appendices of the report are available upon request.

News - March 2012

 

Harricana 2011 Fundraising Evening

The exceptional evening that took place at Mariouche Gagné's Harricana boutique for the benefit of the Montreal Diet Dispensary raised 9150 $. Thank you to all our partners and visitors!

Special Present

The Dispensary has received a well appreciated 10000$ from the CIBC Children's Foundation just in time for Christmas. Thank you to our spokesperson Florence K who allowed us to receive this gift!

Cost of the Nutritious Food Basket

Click here for the January 2012 edition. You wish to compare? The cost of the basket is available from January 2010 under Documentation in the Archives section.

Eating Well at Low Cost

The Janurary 2012 reference prices are now available on the guide Eating Well at Low Cost. The previous years edition of the guide are available under Documentation in the Archves section.

Please note that the 2012 version of the "Eating Well on a Small Budget" guide comes with two corrections:

1) On page 2, the quantities allocated to the weekly Food Order are modified for some food categories. This update takes into account consuming trends and allows for more flexibility in menu and recipe planning, without significantly reducing the nutritional response to individual needs. Basically, changes are done to the following food categories:

  • reduction in the "Liver" category allocated to all groups 14 years old and above to a uniform portion of 0.09 kg per week (instead of 0.12 to 0.15 kg), which is more realistic;
  • increase in the number of the "Egg" category for some groups;
  • reduction in the "Bread" category allocation;
  • increase in the "Rice, pasta, flour, etc." category.

2) On page 3, the "Reference Prices" are updated in accordance with the cost of the nutritious food basket in January 2012.

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