Dr Roberta Sonnino The In Thing

Quality for All: School Meals in Rome Dr Roberta Sonnino School of City and Regional Planning Cardiff University

School Meals in Rome: The Numbers 140,000 meals supplied every day (26,600,000 meals/year) -- 40% of Italian public school meals 92% of the meals cooked in the schools 70% of ingredients are organic PDO and PGI meat 280,000 Fair Trade bananas and 140,000 Fair Trade chocolate bars/week

School Meals in Rome: The Service Service entrusted to 6 food companies but strictly monitored by the centre:  3,500 inspections by dieticians/year  1,100 inspections performed by a specialized firm in 2005  Involvement of Local Health Authorities  Canteen Commissions

School Meals in Rome: The Context Finance Law 488/99: To guarantee the promotion of organic agricultural production of ‘quality’ food products, public institutions that operate school and hospital canteens will provide in the daily diet the use of organic, typical and traditional products as well as those from denominated areas, taking into account the guidelines and other recommendations of the National Institute of Nutrition

School Meals in Rome: The Process Rome began its “quality revolution” in 2001  Contracts awarded on the basis of the “economically most advantageous tender”  emphasis on quality  The market for organic food was not well developed in Italy at the time  identification of a few basic quality criteria;  development of innovative award criteria that have encouraged food companies to broaden the range of social and environmental services offered

School Meals in Rome : The Process point award system  Price of the meal (51 points)  Organizational characteristics of the service (30 points)  Projects, interventions and services offered to improve the eating environment and promote food education (15 points)  Additional organic products offered (4 points)

School Meals in Rome: The Process In the tender, Rome increased the number of both basic quality criteria and award criteria. The tender introduced:  New requirements to prevent childhood obesity  Renewed emphasis on seasonality, variety, tradition and nutritional health  Increased number of organic products -- olive oil, tinned tomatoes, cheese, bread and baked products, legumes, cereals, pasta, rice, flour, eggs and chocolate

AWARD CRITERIAPoints APrice51 BImproving and restoring canteens, kitchens and furniture 9 CPDO and PGI products (meat and cured meats) offered in addition to those required by the tender 17 DOrganization of training courses and informational campaigns 9 EOrganizational features of the service5 FUse exclusively of products from "bio-dedicated“ food chains 4 GOrganic products offered in addition to those required by the tender 4 HFair Trade products2

School Meals in Rome: The Costs Costs of a meal: € 4,11 (£ 2.83)  Ingredients: € 1.9 (£ 1.31) -- 47% of the total  Other direct costs: € 2 (£ 1.38) -- 50% of the total  Profit for the food companies: 0.13 cents/meal – 9 p/meal (3,2% of the total)

School Meals in Rome: The Costs Families pay on the basis of their income:  5 meals/week: € (£ 28)/month  25% discount for low-income families  Service free for poor families Costs of the school meal service in Rome: almost € 110 million (£ 76 million)/year  The city has invested € 166 million (£ 114 million) for the years

School Meals in Rome: The Benefits Emphasis on food security and children’s health

School Meals in Rome: The Benefits School meals and social inclusion

Behind the Roman School Revolution Innovative and solid partnership between public and private sector  Active involvement of producers Wider governance philosophy that emphasizes both economic development and social cohesion

The Roman model Everything we do aims to combine economic growth with social cohesion […] At the foundation of every choice we make there is always a way of working, collaborating, concerting, proceeding together: the municipality, the city council, and, with them, the business world, the trade associations, the social forces and the various subjects of the civil society. It is the willingness of creating a “system”. It is a ‘broad’ idea of what a managerial class is. WALTER VELTRONI, Mayor of Rome, 2006

Lessons from Rome Need for a regulatory context that promotes creative procurement skills School meals must be seen as a crucial strategy to achieve sustainability and community well being Importance of a concerted action that mobilizes support for change amongst all actors involved

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