Soon, more than 90 million pupils and students in Europe will return to school and university and thus to public canteens! A key moment in the year that reminds us just how relevant ICLEI Europe's advocacy for just, health and sustainable food systems is.

Good school meals and food education have been identified as essential, cost-effective public health strategies, since food consumed at school accounts for over 50% of energy intake for many children. Moreover, a very recent study has shown that policy measures to promote healthy school meals are effective in combating malnutrition and obesity and promoting environmental sustainability.

However, not all European schools offer healthy lunches, and some do not offer lunch at all. At the same time EU child obesity rates are on the rise, with almost one in three children overweight or living with obesity.

Acknowledging this evidence, in 2022 ICLEI Europe, as the lead of the Buy Better Food campaign, launched a petition asking for all children to be offered “food education and one healthy school meal per day in every school”. The petition addresses the European Commission and EU Member States, asking them to spend public money more responsibly and supply healthy and sustainable food in schools to all children.

Local and regional public authorities can play a key role in transforming the food system by providing healthy and sustainable meals in public canteens, and ICLEI, together with the Buy Better Food Coalition, is advocating to develop an appropriate regulation to support this transition. Indeed at the European Union level, the president of the European Commission von der Leyen has already announced that food will remain high on the political agenda: she plans on presenting a Vision for Agriculture and Food and on reviewing the public procurement legislation to promote innovative and clean solutions.

It is important to keep the attention high on the topic and the Petition has already reached more than 57.000 signatures, making clear that sustainable and healthy food in schools is a priority for Europeans.

To read and sign the EU-wide ‘A healthy school meal for every child in every EU school’ petition, click here. The petition is available in seven languages: French, German, Spanish, Italian, Polish, Greek and English.

For more information about ICLEI’s work on sustainable food initiatives, click here.