On 22 February 2017, at a meeting on strategies to address childhood obesity organised by the Maltese Presidency of the Council of the European Union, the European Commission in collaboration with the Presidency presented a report that comes as a welcome for school procurers when procuring healthy school food, namely the translation of school food standards into adequate procurement contract language. While currently focused on the school setting, the technical guidance outlined in this report could potentially pave the way to encourage the publication of a series of other similar publications focusing on other specific food settings, such as work canteens, elderly homes, hospitals and prison settings.
Commenting on the report entitled "Public procurement of food for health: technical report on the school setting", Hon Mr Fearne, Minister for Health, Malta and Dr Charmaine Gauci, Superintendent of Public Health, Malta representing the Maltese Presidency, Martin Seychell, Deputy Director General of the Commission's health and food safety directorate, Dr Gauden Galea, Director of the Division of Noncommunicable Diseases and Life-course and Elke Anklam, Director for Health, Consumers and Reference Materials from the European Commission's science and knowledge service, the Joint Research Centre said: "Making the healthy choice the default choice is essential if we are to reverse the childhood obesity epidemic spreading across Europe. Burdensome public procurement rules should never be an obstacle to providing school children with healthy meals. The report we present today, provides technical guidance on, for example, how to draft clear specifications on foods and food services to be procured, which is intended to support EU countries in their efforts to provide healthy food in schools."
The report supports the EU High Level Group on Nutrition and Physical Activity (HLG) and the Action Plan on Childhood Obesity 2014-2020. Its specification sheets are based on recommendations from national school food policies, mapped across the EU in 2014 by the Joint Research Centre. It covers key food groups such as fruit & vegetables, meat, dairy products, cakes and sweets and nutrients such as salt, saturated fat, carbohydrates, sugars, and micronutrients (iron/calcium/vitamin C, etc.). It also includes specifications for food preparation and catering services in general.
The report identifies the following potential benefits:
The Maltese Presidency has also collaborated with DG Santé on a study aimed to provide the European Commission and thereby the EU Member States with an overview of the efforts during the first-half period of the EU Action Plan on Childhood Obesity (2014-2020) and its state of implementation in every EU Member State on the eight action areas:
Area of action |
1 Support a healthy start in life |
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2 Promote healthier environments, especially in schools and pre-schools |
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3 Make the healthy option the easier option |
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4 Restrict marketing and advertising to children |
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5 Inform and empower families |
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6 Encourage physical activity |
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7 Monitor and evaluate |
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8 Increase research |
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