The Buy Better Food Campaign
for sustainable food on the public plate
We are a Europe-wide coalition of more than 100 members, calling for public procurement rules that work for the environment, consumers, and workers, and that provide healthy food to all European citizens in public places such as schools, hospitals and elderly care homes.
Our Vision is that, by 2030, Europe's food system is healthy for both people and the planet, based on sustainable and fair food production on healthy land, providing healthy food for all.
Sustainable Food Procurement can play a pivotal role in driving food system transformation in Europe and beyond.
Timeline
Double strike for the International School Meals Day
To celebrate the Internation School Meals Day we organised two high-level events (one in Strasbourg and one in Brussels) to meet several MEPs from different parties and three European Commissioners, working respectively on Health, Agriculture and Youth. During the events youth from 9 to 17 years old, handed over the Petion for Healthy school meals for all children, with its +100.00 signtures, to the politicians, while ICLEI Europe advocates called for a broader uptake of the European Child Guarantee.
On the 25th of March Buy Better Food met with the other Urban Agenda Parnership on Food's stakholders to define the action plan setting, including, among other priorities, the promotion of sustainable food procurement.
Directive revision and supportig local actions in Belgium
The European Directive on Public Procurement has been opened to public consultation and, together with the EU Food Policy Coalition, we developed a template to assist NGOs in responding to the consultation and improve the legislation.
On the 19th of February we presented the Sustainable Food Procurement Manifesto plus some good practices to some partners of École à table (EAT) to support their mission to improve access to quality school meals. EAT's objective is to leverage the power of public canteens to simultaneously address public health issues, support the most vulnerable families and increase the chances of success at school.
Buy Better Food in the media
Public procurement has the opportunity to incentivise more organic, sustainable and local production, leading to healthier diets and a fairer distribution of food in society. It is therefore high time that the EU sets targets to promote organic, sustainable and regional food in public canteens, in hospitals and in schools!
Sarah Wiener, Former MEP (Greens), chef and organic farmer
Procurement officers are one of the keys to making tenders more sustainable. We have a unique opportunity to create the much needed changes to the food system. As a procurement lawyer and public purchaser you can bring the political goal to life through small changes in the tender document, which may be decisive in making the food chain more sustainable (also in distant countries).
Betina Bergmann Madsen, Chief procurement officer in the municipality of Copenhagen
Public food has the enormous potential to create a virtuous interplay between economic development and social inclusion, bringing to the front the unique role of local authorities in shaping up new (and much needed) constituencies around the objectives of sustainable development.
Roberta Sonnino, Professor of Sustainable Food Systems at Centre for Environment and Sustainability, University of Surrey
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