SUSTAINABLE PUBLIC FOOD PROCUREMENT FOR SCHOOLS! 

STARTER

Describing the approach

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! 

APPETIZER

Fact Sheets 

Procurement for Sustainable, Healthy and Innovative School Meals 
Get an overview of the Handbook for Procurers, which is a practical and legally sound guide for developing tenders.

City-Specific Implementation Plans for Sustainable School Meals Procurement
City-Specific Implementation Plans help municipalities turn procurement goals into measurable, long-term impact. 

Market Dialogues for Sustainable and Healthy School Food Procurement 
Market Engagement and Dialogue Report is an important tool for conducting structured early engagement with suppliers, caterers, farmers, and other stakeholders, helping administrations understand market capacities while preparing suppliers for more ambitious sustainability criteria. 

Guidance for Market Engagement and Stakeholder Dialogue
This guidance is intended to help local governments organize market engagement or dialogue in the context of public procurement for food and catering services. It includes practical information, examples, and references drawn from SF4C and other projects. 

MAIN COURSES

Approach Tools & Content

Innovative and sustainable public procurement on healthy school meals: A practical handbook
The handbook is designed primarily for public procurers and contracting authorities at local, regional, and national levels who are responsible for food and catering tenders. Here you find concrete, innovative criteria and models to raise the level of ambition step by step, from minimum (core) to advanced criteria. The handbook also showcases innovative procurement approaches tested in European contexts.

SIDE DISHES

Stories & scientific insights

Food procurement in Copenhagen – for a healthy diet and a healthy climate
The city of Copenhagen secured the supply of >150 different sorts of seasonal fruits and vegetables through their tender, giving its kitchens a wider and more climate-friendly range to choose from. Find out how they managed to achieve it. 

All about organic in the Dordogne
The region of Dordogne is at the forefront with its ambitions for a healthy school food culture and sustainable school catering. They have implemented a model that provides middle school students with 100% organic, seasonal, sustainable and homemade meals – to the same cost as conventional school food. 

DESSERTS

Impactful good practices

EU publishes criteria for sustainable public food procurement – building on SchoolFood4Change’s vision
The Joint Research Centre (JRC), the European Commission’s science and knowledge service, has in their report “Criteria for Sustainable Public Procurement for Food, Food Services and Vending Machines”, explicitly references to SF4C’s triple approach and tools, confirming the project’s growing influence at EU level.