Unusually Good

This program launched in fall of 2018 to combat both climate change and food insecurity. In Canada,1.2 million children struggle to get enough to eat every day. Each year at the end of the growing season,an abundance of apples remains on trees in local orchards. These apples are left to waste because they are small or imperfect. Local farmers can either pay to have these apples picked, at a loss, or leave them to rot. Enact us students identified a problem - nutritious food was not making it from farm to fork, so they created this program to prevent apple spoilage and produce shelf-stable products. Enact us Okanagan College partnered with the North Okanagan Gleaners Association to come up with an innovative solution. By dicing and dehydrating the apples we could increase the shelf life to over 1 year, allowing us to give nutritious snacks out all year long.This solution gives new life to fruit that is too small or “ugly” for grocery stores. Our apple chips are distributed to school children and marginalized populations faced with food insecurity. The project has improved food security for many children in the interior by providing nutritious snacks to both schools and food banks. Additionally, when crops are left to rot, harmful gases such as carbon dioxide and methane are released into our atmosphere. The Unusually Good Food Co improves air quality by ensuring these apples are not left behind.