Periodic Reporting for period 2 - SchoolFood4Change (Shifting school meals and schools into a new paradigm by addressing public health and territorial, social and environmental resilience)
Reporting period: 2023-07-01 to 2024-12-31
SF4C is creating a shift to both sustainable and healthy diets on a broad societal scale by directly impacting over 3,000 schools and 600,000 school children in 12 EU countries, providing replicable good practices across the EU and beyond. SF4C views schools, children and young people (0-18 years of age) as catalysts for systemic change for the shift to sustainable and healthy diets of all EU citizens.
Partners employ a multi-actor approach and implement the SF4C Triple Approach including:
- Innovative, sustainable & healthy food procurement: The integration of ambitious criteria for healthy and sustainable school meals also includes fostering cooperation between procurers, city administrations, farmers, suppliers, and schools. In essence, the food procurement actions in SF4C put healthy food on children’s plates.
- The Whole School Food Approach (WSFA) implements a holistic approach to school food provision and aims to transform the school food environment through improved food education and school canteens, policy integration, and school community engagement.
- Planetary health diets & cooking provide trainings for school chef and cook trainers, equipping them with the skills to promote planetary health diets through school lunches.
SF4C aligns with the EU Green Deal and Strategy and Vision for Food and Agriculture, the SDGs, and the EU Child Guarantee. SF4C commits to the goal of leaving no child behind when it comes to providing healthy and sustainable school meals across Europe.
Partners employ a multi-actor approach and implement the SF4C Triple Approach including:
- Innovative, sustainable & healthy food procurement: The integration of ambitious criteria for healthy and sustainable school meals also includes fostering cooperation between procurers, city administrations, farmers, suppliers, and schools. In essence, the food procurement actions in SF4C put healthy food on children’s plates.
- The Whole School Food Approach (WSFA) implements a holistic approach to school food provision and aims to transform the school food environment through improved food education and school canteens, policy integration, and school community engagement.
- Planetary health diets & cooking provide trainings for school chef and cook trainers, equipping them with the skills to promote planetary health diets through school lunches.
SF4C aligns with the EU Green Deal and Strategy and Vision for Food and Agriculture, the SDGs, and the EU Child Guarantee. SF4C commits to the goal of leaving no child behind when it comes to providing healthy and sustainable school meals across Europe.
During Reporting Period 2 (RP2), SF4C advanced its implementation across all work areas.
- Mapping & Impact Assessment: The SF4C environmental impact assessment tool was developed and refined to support cities to evaluate the sustainability of their school meal tenders. The SF4C health impact assessment survey was designed and implemented in various schools to measure dietary changes and improvements in children's health. In addition, to better understand children's acceptance of sustainable and healthy school meals, a sensory testing was conducted in the SF4C cities.
- WSFA: Coaching and capacity building sessions were organised for participating cities, ensuring school staff, municipal authorities, and educators are well-equipped to implement the WSFA framework. To encourage knowledge sharing, peer-to-peer exchanges between students and school staff across different cities and countries were launched. Schools actively participated in hands-on activities such as food workshops, school garden projects, and farm-to-school visits.
- Planetary Health Diets & Cooking: Over 66 Canteen Day Parties were held to promote greater stakeholder engagement and more sustainable and healthy school meals, and partners implement a structured training programme for key stakeholders. A series of face-to-face and online training sessions helped train school kitchen staff in preparing healthier and more sustainable meals. To promote wider engagement, the project launched multiplication training, allowing trained chefs and enablers to pass on their knowledge to more schools and municipal staff. The School Menu Design Handbook and online training courses provide additional resources developed to support this process.
- Sustainable Food Procurement: The SF4C partner cities developed city-specific procurement implementation plans, aligning food purchasing with sustainability goals. Many cities increased their share of organic and fair-trade in their tendering, while others expanded free school meal programs to ensure greater accessibility. The cities also worked on reducing GHG emissions linked to food procurement by promoting more plant-based options and sustainable sourcing practices. Engaging with small scale farmers and suppliers was another key aspect in the procurement work.
- Outreach, Replication & Policy Engagement: SF4C engaged in high-level EU policy discussions at events such as the Food 2030 Conference, the Open Food Conference and the Global Child Nutrition Forum. The consortium also expanded its replication efforts beyond schools to institutions like hospitals and elderly care homes, broadening its impact. SF4C contributed to discussions during the Spanish EU Presidency’s event on guaranteeing healthy nutrition for children, leading to the publication of the San Sebastian Declaration on School Meals.
- Mapping & Impact Assessment: The SF4C environmental impact assessment tool was developed and refined to support cities to evaluate the sustainability of their school meal tenders. The SF4C health impact assessment survey was designed and implemented in various schools to measure dietary changes and improvements in children's health. In addition, to better understand children's acceptance of sustainable and healthy school meals, a sensory testing was conducted in the SF4C cities.
- WSFA: Coaching and capacity building sessions were organised for participating cities, ensuring school staff, municipal authorities, and educators are well-equipped to implement the WSFA framework. To encourage knowledge sharing, peer-to-peer exchanges between students and school staff across different cities and countries were launched. Schools actively participated in hands-on activities such as food workshops, school garden projects, and farm-to-school visits.
- Planetary Health Diets & Cooking: Over 66 Canteen Day Parties were held to promote greater stakeholder engagement and more sustainable and healthy school meals, and partners implement a structured training programme for key stakeholders. A series of face-to-face and online training sessions helped train school kitchen staff in preparing healthier and more sustainable meals. To promote wider engagement, the project launched multiplication training, allowing trained chefs and enablers to pass on their knowledge to more schools and municipal staff. The School Menu Design Handbook and online training courses provide additional resources developed to support this process.
- Sustainable Food Procurement: The SF4C partner cities developed city-specific procurement implementation plans, aligning food purchasing with sustainability goals. Many cities increased their share of organic and fair-trade in their tendering, while others expanded free school meal programs to ensure greater accessibility. The cities also worked on reducing GHG emissions linked to food procurement by promoting more plant-based options and sustainable sourcing practices. Engaging with small scale farmers and suppliers was another key aspect in the procurement work.
- Outreach, Replication & Policy Engagement: SF4C engaged in high-level EU policy discussions at events such as the Food 2030 Conference, the Open Food Conference and the Global Child Nutrition Forum. The consortium also expanded its replication efforts beyond schools to institutions like hospitals and elderly care homes, broadening its impact. SF4C contributed to discussions during the Spanish EU Presidency’s event on guaranteeing healthy nutrition for children, leading to the publication of the San Sebastian Declaration on School Meals.
SF4C Triple Impact Approach addresses systemic issues.
- An important result is the WSFA, developed in RP1 and further refined in RP2 to offer more attainable levels of implementation. The approach enables schools to gradually adopt healthier and more sustainable food practices, making systemic transformation more feasible across different school environments.
- The SF4C cities have been integrating ambitious requirements in their food procurement actions. Cities such as Ghent, Valencia, and Lyon have adopted procurement models that prioritise organic, plant-based, fresh and seasonal products, contributing to reduced carbon footprints and healthier school meals.
- At the policy level, SF4C has established strong synergies with EU initiatives, including the EU Child Guarantee and the F2F Strategy. It has actively contributed to EU-wide and global policy discussions, ensuring that school food transformation is recognised as a key component in achieving climate and public health goals especially for food systems.
The impacts of SF4C transcend across multiple issues and narratives:
- Reaching 3,380 schools across 29 partner and replication cities. Carrying out Health Impact Assessments ensures that health outcomes, such as BMI and dietary habits, are systematically monitored and analysed.
- SF4C directly contributes to reducing GHG emissions from food consumed in schools. Ghent, for example, has reduced its GHG emissions by 39% by increasing more plant-based proteins in school meals.
- The actions in cities, regions and schools from SF4C partners and replication cities and institutions are changing and inspiring access to healthy school food for all children with a particular focus given to vulnerable communities. Vienna, for example, has introduced free lunches for an additional 23,000 school children, while Copenhagen is implementing a national school meal programme to ensure all children have access to nutritious food and improve their knowledge of food.
- SF4C targets policy change towards improved school food across all governmental levels – particularly at national levels (in Europe), EU level and local and regional governmental levels (multi-level governance). This is done at EU level via a number of initiatives and channels, such as the European Food Policy Coalition, the Buy Better Food campaign, the Healthy School Meals Petition, the GD-SO, Food2030/Clever Food, the School Meals Coalition and through cross-DG meetings.
-The SF4C model is being expanded beyond schools to hospitals, elderly care homes, and universities, with eight replication institutions onboarded to the SF4C project in RP2. Strong engagement from replication cities is maintained and increased through dedicated webinars, guidance and partner twinning opportunities.
- SF4C is making a significant contribution to achieving the goals of the EU Green Deal, and the SDGs. The project’s integration of health, sustainability, and educational topics is setting a new standard for school food systems across Europe and beyond.
- An important result is the WSFA, developed in RP1 and further refined in RP2 to offer more attainable levels of implementation. The approach enables schools to gradually adopt healthier and more sustainable food practices, making systemic transformation more feasible across different school environments.
- The SF4C cities have been integrating ambitious requirements in their food procurement actions. Cities such as Ghent, Valencia, and Lyon have adopted procurement models that prioritise organic, plant-based, fresh and seasonal products, contributing to reduced carbon footprints and healthier school meals.
- At the policy level, SF4C has established strong synergies with EU initiatives, including the EU Child Guarantee and the F2F Strategy. It has actively contributed to EU-wide and global policy discussions, ensuring that school food transformation is recognised as a key component in achieving climate and public health goals especially for food systems.
The impacts of SF4C transcend across multiple issues and narratives:
- Reaching 3,380 schools across 29 partner and replication cities. Carrying out Health Impact Assessments ensures that health outcomes, such as BMI and dietary habits, are systematically monitored and analysed.
- SF4C directly contributes to reducing GHG emissions from food consumed in schools. Ghent, for example, has reduced its GHG emissions by 39% by increasing more plant-based proteins in school meals.
- The actions in cities, regions and schools from SF4C partners and replication cities and institutions are changing and inspiring access to healthy school food for all children with a particular focus given to vulnerable communities. Vienna, for example, has introduced free lunches for an additional 23,000 school children, while Copenhagen is implementing a national school meal programme to ensure all children have access to nutritious food and improve their knowledge of food.
- SF4C targets policy change towards improved school food across all governmental levels – particularly at national levels (in Europe), EU level and local and regional governmental levels (multi-level governance). This is done at EU level via a number of initiatives and channels, such as the European Food Policy Coalition, the Buy Better Food campaign, the Healthy School Meals Petition, the GD-SO, Food2030/Clever Food, the School Meals Coalition and through cross-DG meetings.
-The SF4C model is being expanded beyond schools to hospitals, elderly care homes, and universities, with eight replication institutions onboarded to the SF4C project in RP2. Strong engagement from replication cities is maintained and increased through dedicated webinars, guidance and partner twinning opportunities.
- SF4C is making a significant contribution to achieving the goals of the EU Green Deal, and the SDGs. The project’s integration of health, sustainability, and educational topics is setting a new standard for school food systems across Europe and beyond.