Cannery
The Montana Food Bank Network and Montana Correctional Enterprises operate a food processing facility at Montana State Prison in Deer Lodge. Our canning program began in 1998 when MFBN teamed with three state departments to form the first-of-its-kind cannery at the Montana State Prison in Deer Lodge. The project partners with the Montana State Department of Public Health and Human Services, the Montana State Department of Corrections (Montana Correctional Enterprises Program), the Montana State Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks and the Montana Food Bank Network to provide value-added processing of food for the Montana Food Bank Network and its local partnering agencies statewide.
From 1994 through 1998, the Montana Food Bank Network enjoyed a great working relationship with the Missoula Bishops' Cannery in Missoula, Montana. The Cannery, run by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints as a humanitarian effort, canned food supplied by the Montana Food Bank Network for distribution through its partner agencies.
In December 1998, the LDS Church made a difficult decision to shut-down its wet-pack canning process in Missoula donating all of the processing equipment to the Montana Food Bank Network. Here we talk bulk quantities of donated product at their peak of freshness to be inexpensively and safely preserved into shelf-stable forms. This means less food is wasted and more is available for distribution to our hungry neighbors.
Former Governor Marc Racicot immediately recognized the benefit this program could provide in supplying food for needy people and as a vocational training program for inmates at Montana State Prison.
With the support of the Governor and Montana Legislature, the Cannery at Deer Lodge officially started processing food for the Food Bank in December 2001. Throughout its history, the Cannery has provided hundreds of tons of canned and repackaged food for the emergency food system. Inmates have benefitted from this program, gaining valuable work experience.
The program continues to provide food and training opportunities.