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:

  • Improved quality of school food service
  • Increased availability and accessibility to nutritious and safe food
  • Reduction of food insecurity
  • Minimisation of health inequalities
  • Improved dietary habits during childhood
  • Reduced incidence of childhood obesity and overweight
  • Positive effects on school attendance and performance
  • Development of health-minded schools

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

  • counselling and support on diet and physical activity before, during and immediately after pregnancy
  • proper information and support on breastfeeding
  • guidance on complementary feeding
  • interdisciplinary evidence-based programmes for obese children and young people

2 Promote healthier environments, especially in schools and pre-schools

  • improve the uptake of healthy and high quality school meals and limit access to snacks and other supplementary less healthy food options on school premises
  • physical education in schools and encouragement of active breaks

3 Make the healthy option the easier option

  • provide appropriate information to consumers could help them to identify nutritious, affordable and convenient food options
  • encourage food product improvement (reformulation)
  • take nutritional objectives into consideration when defining taxation, subsidies or social support policies
  • active commuting to and from school

4 Restrict marketing and advertising to children

  • restrict marketing and advertising to children and young people that includes not only TV but all marketing elements, including in-store environments, promotional actions, internet presence and social media activities

5 Inform and empower families

  • promote and encourage family-based programmes
  • effectively deliver nutritional information in a more useful and easy to understand way for everyone

6 Encourage physical activity

  • encourage activity as early on as possible in childhood
  • encourage physical activity as an everyday occurrence

7 Monitor and evaluate

  • monitor the health status and behaviours of children and young people in relation to nutrition and physical activity in order to develop and direct targeted action
  • evaluate the Action Plan on Childhood Obesity at the end of 2020.
  • revisit the Action Plan After three years, in order to see whether objectives and actions are still relevant to its objectives

8 Increase research

  • improve systematic data collection
  • identify gaps in research and eliminate them through the funding of new projects and by improving alignment of national research agendas
  • disseminate research findings and turn them into innovative actions
Image:The report translates school food standards into adequate procurement contract language, which should help school procurers when procuring healthy school food.

©Fotolia WavebreakmediaMicro

Source: European Commission - Joint Research Centre

https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/news/childhood-obesity-halting-rise
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