The Food Policy Council (FPC) was the fruit of the efforts of a variety of groups, including the City of Buffalo Community Garden Task Force, and the Erie County Agricultural and Farmland Protection Board, among many others.
A Food Policy Summit was held in September of 2011, resulting in discussion about the need for an FPC by Erie County and the City of Buffalo. This community interest sparked the creation of a steering committee to investigate and suggest ways to make the FPC a reality. The steering committee was comprised of Jessie Gouck (from Healthy Kids, Healthy Neighborhoods); Sean Mulligan (staff to City Council member David Rivera); and Samina Raja (University of Buffalo Professor of Urban Planning and principal investigator of the Food Systems Planning and Healthy Communities Lab).
The steering committee began to meet in June 2012 and made its recommendations in January 2013. On May 13, 2013, The Board of Health unanimously voted to create the FPC as a sub-commission of the Erie County Board of Health. FPC chose the Board of Health to house them because of their ability to develop laws and regulations for the health of Erie County residents.
Members of county and city units, such as the Erie County Department of Health and Erie County Department of Environment & Planning, provide representatives to the FPC, as their operations are vital to a successful food system. It was also recommended that some FPC members be appointed as representatives of particular organizations, and at least 50% be stakeholders from diverse aspects of the community.