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The health unit is encouraging people to donate healthier food to Windsor-Essex food banks.

Pick the soup or pasta sauce that’s lower in sodium. Choose canned fruit that’s packed in water, not sugary syrup. And donate more canned tuna or salmon packed in water and chick peas to add healthy proteins to your food bank donations.

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“We always say think outside the box,” Heidi Benson of the Unemployed Help Centre said Tuesday.

That means asking people to scan labels for the healthier option, donate a broader variety of foods and even think about donations for those with special diets such as gluten-free pasta or soy milk.

It just taking maybe those few extra seconds to scan the label and be conscious of what they’re picking up.

The Windsor-Essex County Health Unit consulted with dieticians and the Windsor-Essex Food Bank Association to compile a list of healthier suggestions earlier this month as generous people donate to food banks before the holidays.

“We’re looking to really highlight the healthy donations,” Benson said from the Unemployed Help Centre, which is the main hub for the 15 food banks within the local food bank association.