Project

Sustainable public food procurement

Food is our passion, procurement our strength! 

Innovative approaches to the procurement of healthy and sustainable food for school meals are the focus of SchoolFood4Change (SF4C). SF4C follows a holistic approach with the aim of enabling community-wide food system change to provide nutritious, sustainable and affordable school food for all children. How? Ambitious targets and innovative food procurement guidelines developed by the SF4C consortium will guide cities and procurers in their procurement. At the same time they encourage cooperation between small farmers, schools, local food suppliers and caterers in providing sustainable and healthy school meals!  Did we whet your appetite for change? Contact the SF4C representative in your country! View partners

A chance to change the menu  

The procurement of food and food services is an important first step in the chain of providing healthy and sustainable meals in schools. It is the responsibility of municipal or school administrators to find the right providers. The available budget has traditionally been one of the main criteria for selecting suitable providers. However, it is equally important that the public authorities responsible also consider the health costs and environmental criteria associated with food when drawing up tenders and awarding contracts. SF4C therefore aims to shift the focus away from monetary aspects to criteria that reflect the sustainability and health aspects of food for the sake of our children and our planet. The newly developed SF4C procurement criteria are designed to guide the people responsible (often local and regional authorities) on how to choose the right providers for A NEW MENU!

more details, please!

The SF4C procurement criteria are broken down into two levels:  

1. Core criteria for healthy and sustainable food  

The core criteria ensure a minimum level of health and sustainability. They serve as a new basis for sustainable public food procurement 

  2. Advanced criteria   

These can be used by public authorities that want to go beyond a basic health and sustainability standard. They can encourage service providers to deliver even more sustainable solutions. 

The proposed criteria address different aspects of sustainable food and food systems, for example, serving more organic, seasonal, local and freshly cooked food. The aim is to provide nutritional and balanced meals while simultaneously ensuring shorter transport distances, fewer greenhouse gas emissions and a stronger local economy. We want all children to benefit from high-quality food and meals so they can enjoy their entire school day.    

It should be the goal of every school, every city and every country to offer and serve every child school food that is healthy, delicious and sustainable all at the same time – both for the sake of us humans and our planet. SchoolFood4Change leverages the transformative power of the public plate and supports schools and cities in implementing revolutionary sustainable public procurement targets and criteria to become true agents of change for more sustainable food systems.  Thanks for the food. It’s time for a new menu!