Heightened FOOD Safety Practices Update

Nov 24, 2020:

Our commitment is to deliver safe and healthy food to Winnipeg, and more than ever that trust you place in us can be relied on. Here is an update in regards to adaptations we have made to reduce the spread of the virus COVID-19.

Our warehouse is an inspected food-safe facility that consistently receives top grades from the Health Inspector. We are closed to the public with very few people having exposure to your food. Minimal handling of produce is our normal. The food you receive has been harvested, packed and transferred by very few workers. It doesn’t sit out on display and is never exposed to the public. The repacking is overseen by the Owner of Fresh Option, a former Chef with strict food handling standards and procedures.

Here are some of the increased measures we have implemented, in most cases before they were mandated by Public Health orders:

• The entire staff wears mask at all times at work, inside or out.
• Our building is locked to the public, with extremely restricted access to a small staff and a couple exceptions.  When we receive from our farms and suppliers we require them to maintain 6-ft distance and wear masks.
• our Delivery Drivers will place your order outside your door, ring the bell, then step back 2 metres.
• As of March 23 we switched from our blue tote bins to single-use cardboard boxes for all our orders, including fresh boxes.
• sanitizing high touch areas in our warehouse facility and office frequently
• sanitizing high touch points on our delivery vehicles each route
• increased hand-washing, face-touching avoidance and cough etiquette practices
• Processing cardless credit card payments, no longer accepting cash for the time being.

We are grateful for those who have trusted us to provide safe local and organic food to their households. There is no disruption to the supply chain at this time. Our system was built strong and now is our time to shine. I am so proud of and grateful to our team, and to our supply partners (especially our local farmers, bakers, small-batch makers, and greenhouse operators). And the love we have been getting from our customers is keeping us going.

These additional steps we have implemented have added to labour and packaging costs. It is likely we will need to raise the prices of our fresh boxes soon in order to stay open, but to date we have not had to do so. Our prices have remained low and value high. We hope you understand we need to cover our costs and stay afloat, pay our small and dedicated crew of employees, and continue to write cheques to our local small-scale sustainable farmers. Thank you in advance to our also committed customer base for your understanding. You are the best! Please know we have you and our entire community’s right to a secure food source on the top of our minds, and tips of our well-washed fingers.