Last July, a consumer-goods company with a warehouse in Brampton, Ont., faced a common issue: inventory that would be tricky to sell. In this case, the product was baby formula. Its expiry date was six months away, but formula is pricey, and families don’t like to risk buying it without getting the chance to use it. The company knew from experience that consumers would reach for their competitors’ products if theirs didn’t have an equally long shelf life ahead of it. 

So, they reached out to Food Banks Canada, which was happy to accept the baby formula as a donation: all 284,512 pounds of it! 

Under the auspices of the National Food Sharing System (NFSS), Food Banks Canada distributes large-scale food donations like this one equitably across the country over the course of each year. 

On this occasion, Food Banks Alberta agreed to receive nearly half of the baby formula, with the remainder going to Nova Scotia and Quebec’s provincial food banking associations. From there, it made its way to local food banks throughout each of those three provinces. 

Moving this much freight across long distances calls for robust and reliable shipping capacity, and that’s precisely what our transportation partners offer to us – often free of charge. 

For instance, the baby formula reached Alberta in plenty of time to help families who needed it, thanks to Canadian National Railway (CN). They’re among the companies that regularly donate in-kind shipping services to Food Banks Canada as part of an ongoing partnership. Without them, we wouldn’t be able to seize opportunities to prevent perfectly safe and nutritious food from going to waste, instead getting it to the households that would benefit the most. 

“We would like to thank CN for their continued support in connecting food to people in need,” says Shawna Bissel, executive director of Food Banks Alberta. “Recently, CN played a key role in getting food for our tiniest Albertans when they supported the transport of over 100,000 lbs of donated formula across the country. In a territory as big as Canada, partnerships like this allow food banks to connect, share and ensure food gets where it needs to, when it needs to.” 

Shipping to Share 

In addition to in-kind services, CN also gifted $50,000 in funds to support the National Food Sharing System in 2025. 

No two days are quite the same in logistics, but an NFSS food donation typically takes a journey like this: 

• A large manufacturer contacts Food Banks Canada about a donation. 

• Our logistics team coordinates with the donor to obtain details, including any relevant food-safety information. For instance, some products must stay cold as they’re transported. 

• We also coordinate with provincial food bank hubs to ensure they have capacity to take the donation. Over the year, food is shared equitably among the provinces based on population numbers and poverty data. 

• If the donor is unable to ship the product, we then work with our transportation partners to determine the best option for shipping. 

• We arrange pick-up from the donor and track the food across the country, solving any issues that may arise so that it gets to its destination on time. 

• The provincial hub distributes the food to its member food banks and community organizations. 

So far this year, CN has helped us to move over 1.3 million pounds of food. Besides the baby formula, other examples include 64,000 pounds of bagged potatoes for Albertan food banks, around 40,000 pounds of greens and legumes for the East Coast, and 56,000 pounds of bagged carrots that made their way from Ontario to British Columbia to be dispersed throughout the interior, islands and remote areas.  

“What’s more, the true impact of this support goes beyond kilograms,” says Karen Theriault of Feed Nova Scotia, which helps to supply over 130 local food banks. “When CN pulls up to our warehouse, the real gift they’re delivering is nourishment, comfort and peace of mind. And we couldn’t be more grateful.”