MONTREAL — Air Canada is donating fresh food originally intended for in-flight meals to Canadians in need.

The airline, along with the Air Canada Foundation, are working with Canadian food rescue organization Second Harvest’s FoodRescue.ca to redistribute fresh food items from Air Canada’s in-flight kitchens as the airline begins suspending the majority of its international and U.S. transborder flights.

To date, Air Canada has donated more than 2,330 kilograms of food, including fresh vegetables, salads, sandwich wraps, muffins and milk.

“While so many of us are staying home during these extraordinary times, we also remain united in taking care of each other,” says Arielle Meloul-Wechsler, Executive Vice President, Chief Human Resources and Communications Officer at Air Canada. “These difficult moments remind us of the importance of continuing to support our communities and help Canadian families in need. Since we work with catering facilities across Canada, the network that Second Harvest offers through their national FoodRescue.ca platform enables us collectively to get these ready-to-eat food items to those who need it most as quickly as possible.”

“We are grateful to Air Canada for taking a leadership role in national food rescue efforts and to the Air Canada Foundation for continuing its tradition of community support,” says Lori Nikkel, CEO of Second Harvest. “FoodRescue.ca is a safe food donation platform for both donors and non-profits because it leverages the good health and business practices already in place, so we can make the food recovery process more efficient even before a single donation happens.”