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We're paying less to eat, but more to poop

Algoma Public Health announced tonight that the price of food is dropping. But it's planning to jack up the price of permits for sewage treatment systems
HealthyEatingShutterstock
It now costs $907 a month to provide nutritious food to a family of four, according to Algoma Public Health's annual food affordability survey

For the first time this decade, the cost of eating healthy in Algoma is dropping.

Members of the Algoma Public Health board were told tonight that the estimated weekly cost to feed a family of four last month was $209.49.

That was down 2.6 per cent from $214.99 at this time last year.

The cost of a standardized basket of healthy food, priced at seven Algoma grocers between Wawa and Elliot Lake, has risen more than 20 per cent over the past seven years.

The biggest hikes were between 2010 and 2011 (6.8 per cent) and between 2014 and 2015 (7.0 per cent).

Once a year, all health units in Ontario are required to price a basket of standardized food items selected to reflect an eating pattern that meets Canada's Food Guide.

The basket does not include highly processed foods or anything with little or no nutritional value.

The selection of items assumes that most Canadians are able to access good grocery stores and have the equipment, skills and time to make food from scratch.

The nutritious food basket survey is done each year in May.

The food is chosen to feed:

  • one male, age 31 to 50
  • one female, age 31 to 50
  • one male, age 14 to 18
  • one female, age 4 to 8

In a separate matter, health board members agreed tonight to increase the cost of the permits it issues for construction and use of sewage treatment systems in Algoma.

Algoma Public Health is required by the Ontario Building Code to inspect and approve all sewage systems with a calculated daily sewage flow under 10,000 litres a day.

The fee for a Class 4 leaching bed system with septic tank and leaching bed the largest volume system handled by Algoma Public Health  will rise $100 to $850 in 2018, an additional $50 in 2019 and another $50 in 2020.

Some totally irrelevant SooToday factoids from tonight's health board meeting:

  • more than 18,200 sharps have been picked up so far this year, most of them needles and most deposited in needle drop bins at 27 King Street and at the southeast corner of Gore and Albert Street East
  • there've been 30 rabies risk investigation so far in 2017, compared to 44 at this time last year
  • Algoma has had 26 confirmed influenza cases so far this year, compared to 57 in 2016



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David Helwig

About the Author: David Helwig

David Helwig's journalism career spans seven decades beginning in the 1960s. His work has been recognized with national and international awards.
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