Delivering Sustainability Towards the Creative Procurement of School Meals
Lead Researchers: Prof Kevin Morgan, Roberta Sonnino, Mara Miele.
Background:
In many countries, particularly in Europe, something of a ‘moral panic’ has broken out around food, health and obesity. In the UK, the most tangible signs of this growing concern are two seminal reports: the Curry Report of Farming and Food (2002) and the Obesity Report (2004). Published in the aftermath of a series of food scares, the Curry Report focuses on food production to provide guidelines for nurturing a re-localized and sustainable agri-food sector. The Obesity Report, in turn, suggests solutions in the context of food consumption to address the devastating effects of the ‘obesity epidemics’ on national health and the economy. Significantly, both documents emphasize the role that public procurement, and especially school meals, can play at both ends of the food chain by developing markets for local producers (Policy Commission, 2002:104) and by promoting healthy eating habits that tackle obesity (House of Commons, 2004:68-70)
There is a need for a critical assessment of the scope for and the limits to sustainable public procurement in the context of the school meals system in Italy and the UK, where ‘healthy eating’ initiatives are underway to improve children’s diets. Creative procurement as a means of integrating the supply and demand sides of the agri-food chain to respond to concerns about obesity and healthy eating for children is one way forward. Some Italian Local Authorities are regarded as leaders in the provision of healthy school meals, and there are some Local Authorities in the UK that are also making substantial efforts to address concerns at the current time. The prospects for school meals depend on a combination of local and non-local factors. Key non-local factors include EU public procurement regulations and national food culture and national regulations. The main local factors include the local socioeconomic environment and the political commitment to sustainable development at the municipal level.
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