Heather Wright
A new phone app is set to put more local food on your fork.
Western University is working with farmers, food producers and local restaurants in southwestern Ontario on the SmartAppetite app, said committee members Margaret Milczarek.
The group is making fresh, seasonal food easy and convenient.
“Local food is tricky, making sure it’s available in a timely manner,” Milczarek said.
Phone apps already exist that provide nutritional information, but the SmartAppetite will have a local flavour, she said.
“So the message might be … apples are now available. It would give the vitamin components in an apple, and within the message would be a recipe which would use apples, and then a local vendor to sell them,” she said.
“We’re hoping to introduce people to local venders who they may have never heard of.”
Researchers have been meeting with local farmers to find out what information would be helpful to include in the phone app.
There is also an online survey for producers and food vendors to fill out at smartappetite.ca.
Milczarek hopes the technology will help the food industry in southwestern Ontario, and improve the health of the people who use it.
“Generally, food skills are declining in the population,” she said. “We want to create a convenient tool for people to use to help.”
Heather Wright is publisher and editor of The Independent in Petrolia