Spring is here and Mother’s Day is upon us! Happy Mother’s Day!
Looking beyond the current situation with COVID-19 there are many reasons to be optimistic although no one knows what the future landscape will look like. We at CIFST are thinking about our members and the myriad of challenges you are all facing. Working from home, dealing with supply chain issues, and delayed projects are all things we face together.
CIFST has had many challenges as well. We cancelled our annual summit and our section events have been cancelled or postponed. In order to continue to serve our members we have had to pivot to try and bring you the latest most up to date
information
on issues that matter most. We have had an overwhelming response to our joint Webinar Series with Food in Canada. Our most recent Webinar with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois from Dalhousie University was completely sold out! CIFST made a donation to the
Feed Nova Scotia
food bank as thanks. Thank you to all who participated.
As of this writing, we have a weekly seminar scheduled through mid-June. In fact, we are thinking beyond COVID-19 to keep these free webinars as a regular part of our member benefits.
We are also aware that some of our members have either become unemployed or have had to agree to pay cuts to avoid getting laid off. Regrettably, this has limited their ability to renew their membership with CIFST. In order to help those members, we will extend their membership until the end of 2020. Click this
webpage
for more information.
Our food industry is not exempt from the impact of this virus, especially our food service sector. As an essential service, our food industry has proven to be very resilient and many companies have re-engineered or redirected and have kept our food supply flowing and their businesses going. Unfortunately, our restaurants have not fared as well. Once the restrictions have been lifted, I urge you to get out and visit your local restaurants and help them get on the road to recovery. During the pandemic, if you can, please support those restaurants that offer delivery by ordering in at least once per week.
CIFST will continue to monitor the situation and provide you with regular updates either through this platform or on our website.
I wish you and your family, friends and colleagues best of health.
