Food

Purchasing power

Food procurement accounts for a significant portion of overall public procurement. It includes the purchase of food and food-related services for public school meal programmes, for the cafeterias of public offices, hospitals, prisons and universities, as well as for social programmes such as in-kind transfers (the distribution of food aid to families in need) or social restaurants.

Transformative power

More and more, local, regional and national governments are recognizing the potential of sustainable food procurement to influence the various stages of the food value chain, to promote public health and nutrition and to localize the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Public food procurement (PFP) can benefit those who produce and consume food, as well as their communities and the planet. By making choices as to what food to purchase, from whom and from what type of production practices, governments can tailor PFP to various policy goals, according to their own contexts and priorities. For example, depending on local priorities, PFP can help tackling malnutrition, foster local employment, reduce greenhouse gas emissions or reduce food and packaging waste. This makes PFP a potentially powerful instrument that can deliver multiple benefits and reach a multiplicity of beneficiaries, and is adaptable to multiple national, regional and local contexts.

Strategic power

As acknowledged by the 2021 UN Food Systems Summit, PFP represents a strategic entry point for promoting more sustainable food systems. Food production is among the most important drivers of environmental degradation globally. It contributes to climate change, biodiversity loss, excessive freshwater use, the disruption of global nitrogen and phosphorus cycles and land-system change. Food production and consumption choices have also important social and economic impacts and unintended costs. At the same time, food systems should also be part of the solution. Considering the extent of the demand for food from the public sector and how procurement choices are made, PFP initiatives have the potential to profoundly influence both food consumption and food production patterns and to deliver multiple social, economic and environmental benefits to transform positively the food systems and contribute to healthy diets.

The group is open for members from across One Planet Network Programmes as well as other relevant networks or associations.

Members commit themselves in-kind to participate at regular (online) meetings, 2 times a year, and to share experiences with a view to foster collaboration.

To become a member, simply contact Luana Swensson at Luana.Swensson(at)fao.org.