Sustainable Food Laboratory

Summer 2007 International Sustainable Public & Institutional Food Newsletter

Sustainable Public and Institutional food initiatives are now taking place in almost all countries of the European Union as well as in the United States, Canada, Japan and many other countries. The primary motivation is health, with the rise in obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and other non-communicable diseases associated with an unbalanced diet. The word “poor,” in these countries often denotes not lack of calories but too many of the wrong kind of calories – cheap sugar and fat rich foods instead of fresh fruit and vegetables.

This newsletter is part of a long-term initiative by AlimenTerra to ensure that best practice in sustainable public food systems is known about and shared, becoming an instrument of bringing people together to work constructively for the creation of a genuinely sustainable food system at all geographical levels.

In this issue: Germany, Scandinavia, the USA and UK
In the next issue: France, Italy, Spain, Eastern Europe and a special section on food and catering service companies, producer-suppliers and logistics.

In the next issue there will also be an expanded events, projects and publications sections. Please send any relevant information to the Clive Peckham. AlimenTerra is also in the process of developing a multilingual web resource (with sections in French, Spanish and Italian) for sustainable public food systems bringing together information from both sides of the Atlantic.

Summer 2007 International Sustainable Public & Institutional Food Newsletter

Some highlights

In the UK: the Royal Cornwall Hospital, with help from The Soil Association increased ‘local’ food from 40 to 80 percent, decreased annual food miles from 162,042 to 53,596 (67 percent), in the process increased patient satisfaction from 18 to 92 percent, all this, without increasing costs.

In Germany: Unanimous resolutions were passed in Nuremberg and Munich to become “Organic Cities,” guidelines were adopted for school food tenders in Berlin of 10 percent organic and 10 percent appropriately husbanded meat and nationwide, a network of 18 regions have been chosen as models of integration of economic and ecological principles.

In Scandinavia: Impacts in Sweden of a national target to reach 25 percent organic public sector food by 2010 including wide demand for training of kitchen staff. In Denmark, the Dogme 2000 project at the city of Copenhagen has helped coordinate efforts between municipalities towards 75 percent organic by 2009 and collected current results. For example, 255 of the 534 day-care centers have been reorganized to organic and now serve 84 percent organic food.