Families in Regina are being hard-hit by inflation.
Gas station fill-ups, leisure pursuits, and grocery shopping are all becoming more expensive for people. And with prices rising, there is a greater need than ever for communal refrigerators.
At the community fridge in Cathedral village, the shelves are often bare as more and more people look to the community service with food and grocery prices at all-time highs.
The food analytics lab at Dalhousie University predicts that Saskatchewan’s food price hikes in 2022 will be higher than the national average.
Bob Thomas, a Regina community fridge user, stated, “We’re particularly concerned for the young families, folks with children who haven’t got the right food to feed them.”
Some locals have expressed concern about the frequent absence of raw meat and protein in the community fridge.
They claim that the people in charge of the refrigerator have informed them that keeping raw meats there poses an excessive risk to consumer safety.
“The organizers have made a decision on the behalf of the community that it’s too much of a liability for us to make a choice to cook our own food so they’re choosing to cook it for us,” said Annamaria Holtskog.
The fridge is not constantly watched by individuals with their food safety certificate, according to the organisers, therefore they don’t permit the delivery of high-risk raw meats.
The choice was decided when the community fridge was first being established, according to Brianna, one of the organisers.
“If you have raw meat sitting on the top shelf and blood dripping down on the vegetables, that could literally end people’s life,” said Brianna. So we simply advise against storing meat in the refrigerator.
Instead, raw meats are carried to an industrial kitchen, typically at the Regina food bank, where meals are prepared using those meats and then brought back to the communal fridge for distribution, according to organisers.
According to Holtskog, none of those prepared meals have yet been seen returning to the refrigerator. However, the fridge organisers claim that is untrue.
In the end, Briana explained, “We have a big responsibility here; feeding people is a big responsibility, so of course we’re going to take it seriously.
The Unitarian church is hosting a community fridge meeting the next week for all stakeholders to come together and discuss practical solutions to maintain the fridge.
Regina residents ask community refrigerators to accept contributions of raw meat
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