School meals should be on the top of the political agenda

On March 14^th, SchoolFood4Change arranged a digital book release and a conversation around Professor Kevin Morgan’s book “Serving the Public – The good food revolution in schools, hospitals and prisons” focusing on food in schools. SchoolFood4Change is an initiative that aims to make school meals enjoyable and healthy for both our children and our planet.

Good food is a sign of social justice and sustainability

The book takes an international perspective on how public sector food can be more sustainable. Access to good food is an indicator of a society’s commitment to social justice and sustainable development, and Malmö is presented as one of the good examples. The meeting was moderated by Andrew Gallagher, who is a doctoral student at the Department of People and Society, SLU. He has previously worked with SLU Urban Futures where he worked with urban sustainability in the global south, collaboration with Uppsala Municipality, the Urban Readings project, and the project Food and cities.

–  Kevin’s book illustrates the central role that public institutions play in shaping healthier, fairer and more sustainable food systems by engaging with their various policy levers such as public procurement. Through examples of good food policy, Kevin’s book highlights that in the face of complex social, economic and environmental challenges, and often in adverse economic conditions, municipalities are showing that through local leadership, innovation and collaboration, multiple dividends from holistic food policy can be achieved, says Andrew.

45 000 healthy school lunches every day in Malmö

Sofia Hedén is Deputy Mayor in Malmö:

– Malmö has undergone a big transformation in recent years into a young and global city with 186 nationalities. Our biggest challenges today are affordable housing, sustainable food and equitable and socially sustainable economy. The food plays a big role here. In Malmö, we serve 45 000 nutritionally balanced school lunches every day.

Vulnerable people in need of a nutritious diet

Kevin Morgan, today’s author and Professor of Governance and Development at Cardiff University continued by presenting his book:

– This book contains more than 20 years of research into the public food system in and outside the UK. Pupils, patients and prisoners are different, but they have one thing in common: they are all highly vulnerable people in need of a nutritious diet.

Kevin talked about how the goal for all food systems is to link the catering function to the teaching function. The rise of plant-based menus can complement or substitute meat-based meal. The advantages are that the meals become healthier, cheaper and better for the environment.

Data visualization to promote food revolution

In one of the case studies in the book Kevin mentions the project “Good food for all Londoners” where data visualization raised awareness and catalysed change. Data visualization can be a great tool for promoting food revolution.

–  Today, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland has free school meals, but England has not. 900 000 children do not qualify for a free school meal and that cannot be right. Oldham is one of the poorest towns in England and has won an award for best school catering system. However, it is now closing the service as they cannot afford the cost.

– The pedagogical meal requires local as well as national action. Children must feel part of the process in shaping the menus and not being treated as passive objects, said Kevin.

Many has not experienced a school without free lunch in Sweden

Gunilla Andersson is a Senior Project Manager Environment Department at the City of Malmö. In Malmö, by 2020 almost 70% of the food was organic. After the pandemic and the big inflation that followed, there has been a decrease in organic food in public catering down to just below 60% both because of the prices and that not as much organic food was available. The idea with serving organic food is to

– Most people today have never experienced a school without a free school lunch in Sweden. Challenges for the future in the City of Malmö is to reduce food waste, connecting urban and rural, buying large volumes from small producers, secure a supply of more local organic products, develop better links with schools and to develop better guidelines for the future to better reach the sustainable goals, said Gunilla.

“Small plate, big impact”

Peter Defranceschi leads the Global CityFood Program of ICLEI, an international and European organisation of cities and regions committed to integrated sustainable development.

– There is so much to learn from Kevin and the City of Malmö. A report from WHO in 2022 states that nearly one in three school-aged children are living with overweight or obesity said a WHO report from 2022. If we want to have healthy people, landscape and climates, schools are the right place to start. As the SchoolFood4Change slogan says: “small plate, big impact”. It is about food education, engaging with farmers, understanding where food comes from and learning to eat healthy. As part of SchoolFood4Change, 2 800 schools in 22 countries are already serving more sustainable and healthier meals, including larger portions of fruit and vegetables, said Peter.

The power of purchase

Kevin said that SchoolFood4Change is one of the best campaigns he has seen. It is so effective as it uses the power of purchase, and added:

– The real challenge with the public plate is to make policies to support the production and consumption of sustainable food. Empower children to know what food are good for their bodies and the planet, that is why school meals are such a great investment. They are not an investment for the poorest of the poor, said Kevin.

Forming new food systems

When Malmö started implementing the new food policies for the public plate in 2+10, the organisation was very decentralised, and it was difficult to reach everyone that was involved.

– We made a massive communication campaign to reach all the people that are cocking to learn about sustainable cooking with practical cooking classes. That was a success. The main impact for reducing the climate impact is to reduce the amount of meat. Choosing organic is to decrease exposure to pesticides and chemicals as well as animal welfare, said Gunilla.

– In Italy, where I come from, food from nearby hare viewed as more sustainable. If there is a buyer for local products, farmers dare to grow more and more diversified. It is important to do a market assessment to procure local foods and see if you can link it to a circular economy strategy, said Peter.

Kevin concluded the conversation:

–  We need to frame this initiative as health and wellbeing and not for the poor. Then politicians will realise that they can get so many advantages from a school meal. School meals should be on the top of the political agenda.

A range of different food system actors needs to be involved

Andrew’s own research investigates how Swedish municipalities implement holistic and integrated approaches to food systems challenges.

– In particular, I am interested in how municipal planners mobilise knowledge, resources and relationships to embed new policy and planning practices for sustainable food systems.

– We heard today that the implementation of Malmö’s food policy was affected by a range of internal organisational challenges and external environmental pressures. To deliver healthy and sustainable school meals, municipalities therefore need to navigate a complex landscape of rules and regulations, and work with a range of different food systems actors, requiring new forms of collaboration and coordination, as well as knowledge and competencies, said Andrew.

The ability for municipalities to engage in collaboration at a local level is central to capitalising on strategies towards food system resilience.

– Getting healthy food on the public plate not only requires engaging with schools to understand demands and needs but working with producers and suppliers to help develop a local infrastructure to meet these demands. There are international networks that can help strengthen the collective voice of municipalities and support other municipalities by sharing experiences and best practice, said Andrew.