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
The Manifesto, Procura+ and the Buygreen Forum
October was an eventful month, marking the culmination of six months of intense collaboration with the EU FPC to develop the Manifesto for Minimum Sustainability Standards for Public Canteens. The Manifesto was officially launched during the high-level session at the European Week of Regions and Cities, with participation from Torres Vedras (Portugal) and the South-Tyrol Region (Italy). Additionally, Buy Better Food took part in the Procura+ Seminar in Schaerbeek (Brussels) and the Buygreen Forum in Rome to share and present the latest advancements in sustainable, circular and innovative public procurement.
When everything started
The Buy Better Food campaign was launched. The core team came together for the first time, and the coalition started expanding with more and more NGOs, civil society organisations, and local and regional governments.
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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