Seven Propositions For Better Food in EU Public Canteens

The European Food Policy Coalition, of which Slow Food is an active member, is launching its Farm to Fork Procurement Manifesto with seven actionable propositions for establishing minimum standards for public canteens in Europe, targeted at the European Commission and the EU Member States as well as regional and local public authorities.

European public canteens, and in particular school meals, are low-hanging fruit for the implementation of the EU Farm to Fork strategy. They can be catalysts for food system transformation if their public spending actions include ambitious requirements that go beyond environmental or ‘green’ requests.

Why buy cheap and unhealthy food when public food procurement provides such a good opportunity for tackling so many sustainability policy goals on one plate?

This F2F Procurement Manifesto, presents seven mandatory and optional criteria for public canteens:

1. Healthy Food
2. Organic and Other Agro-Ecological Products
3. Small-Scale Farmers Support
4. Climate Action
5. Social Economy and Labour Rights
6. Fair Trade
7. Animal Welfare Standards

Buying better to achieve more is the intention of this Manifesto.

Read the Manifesto

Further reading on sustainable public procurement:

• Policy paper on ‘Sustainable Public Procurement of Food: A Goal Within Reach’, which presents the ‘business case’ for sustainable healthy food procurement
• Key policy recommendations for using procurement as a tool for systemic food transformation