Italy has the longest tradition in Europe in seeing meals served to schoolchildren and patients as not just a means of filling them up and shutting them up but as a way to help promote health and an understanding of food and farming. Whilst Italians are famous for their love of food Italian children are just as exposed to TV advertising pressure to eat fatty and sugary foods as their Irish peers. A recent survey in Milan showed that 10% of children eat one portion of fruit and vegetables per week.

In 1978 the first school in Italy adopted a ‘Mediterranean Diet ’ in the Comune of Tradate. This generated considerable interest within Italy both because of the nutritional model and the role it gave to the school canteen in food education, for both adults and children.

In 1986 the Italian National Institute for Nutrition published Guidelines for a Healthy Italian Diet, which was the first time that the public sector openly favoured the Mediterranean diet model. Importantly it also encouraged the uptake of this dietary model through public sector catering. In the same year the first organic (or bio-mediteranean) meals system started in Cesena, Emilia-Romagna whose starting point was concern over the health implications of the menus then in operation which were largely ‘meat ‘n’ pasta’.

In 1989 in Padua a group of students formed a voluntary organisation and started the first organic university canteen. Despite its initial success (3,300 meals per day), it did not last the departure of the students forming the group.

In 1990 the first organic hospital meals system began at the Gervasutta hospital in Udine (NE Italy) where 450 meals a day were served. The experiment lasted two years before cost-cutting forced a return to conventionally produced ingredients, however the Legnago hospital in Verona currently serves organic meals.

These pioneering projects anticipated the Italian Budget of 1999/2000 (LEGGE 23 dicembre 1999, n.488) and various regional laws which have encouraged, obliged or subsidised the use of organic and ‘quality’ ingredients in public sector canteens.

Venice is not only famous for its gondoliers, floods and carnivals, all the schoolchildren on the island now eat organic food every day supplied by a local farmers co-operative. The initiative was led by (Parent-led) School Canteens Committees in Venice who organised a petition with over 5,000 signatures who were demanding an organic meals system. A resolution was unanimously passed by City of Venice councillors and pilot projects began in 2001. Previously the Province of Venice had produced a comprehensive manual to local authorities to write tenders for organic school meals systems.

The pilot and all additional costs of using organic products have been borne entirely by the local government. The El Tamiso organic producers co-operative from the neighbouring city of Padua is currently supplying two of the contracts. Approximately 1,800 meals per day are served on Venice island

In all Italian state schools the parents have the right to ask for the creation of canteen committees which act as an independent watchdog to ensure the maintenance of hygiene and food quality standards. In Venice they campaigned for a fundamental change, a ‘Bio-Mediterranean’ diet which included traditional recipes. Once this had been approved by the city councillors, (the new system was introduced rapidly only three months after the city council vote) a four-month pilot was undertaken together with a programme of kitchen staff retraining and a series of awareness raising seminars for parents and teachers.

A tendering system was then developed that offered twelve contracts (eight organic and four conventional). New seasonal menus were also introduced on a five-week rotation, which clearly had an impact on the specifications of the tendering contracts. Traditional local recipes are also included in the menu lists

El Tamiso won the the fresh fruit and vegetables and processed tomato contracts by competitive tender and approximately 50% of the supplies now come from within 60 km of the city with another 25% coming from neighbouring regions (particularly fruit).El Tamiso has sub-contracted a small family firm to produce the processed tomato products using its members’ ingredients.

El Tamiso have stated that the contracts give their members secure markets for a year and whilst the prices are lower then they could achieve from direct sales or wholesaling, they are guaranteed for a year. The co-operative will be bidding for other contracts and sees them as a major part of their future market development strategy. However as often happens when there’s pressure on budgets, the City Council maybe putting the squeeze on the school meals budget making it difficult for El Tamiso to bid for the next contracting round.

One of the major successes has been the growing relationship and understanding between the suppliers and the kitchen staff. Whilst all attempts are made to keep to the agreed menus, if there are quality or availability problems, usually due to the weather, then a suitable replacement will be suggested (this also helps to reduce waste). The new system was also introduced too fast for some and many parents would like to have seen the education, training and awareness raising support measures undertaken before not after the introduction of the new system.

In the North-East of Italy the regional assembly of Friulia-Venzia-Giulia was the first to provide a subsidy to encourage schools to use organic and quality ingredients. Local health authorities have also developed special health and safety courses to enable parents to manage school kitchens. Schools and other providers can get back a third or more of the costs of the raw ingredients when over 60% of the food they buy is organic or ‘quality’ produce. This money is however then used for educational purposes rather that as a direct subsidy and enables the schools to undertake additional activities.

Development organisations like Aprobio have also received regional funding to run seminars that focus on involving teachers, parents, cooks, school children and all stakeholders in the running of locally managed services. They have shown that where there is preparatory groundwork and synergy* between the different partners involved in setting up the school meals service, the result is a far greater success rate.

A very good example of the process is in the Comune of Meruzzo. It has a great culinary tradition and this was very important to the local Town Council who saw the maintenance of their tradition of having quality food as being very important. They were therefore very open to suggestions from the local parent run school meal committees that they would like to see an introduction of local organic produce in the school meals. The project itself started in 1987 and in particular focused on the supply of organic fruit and vegetables. In fact the parents' committee became both the manager of the system and also the supplier of the organic fruit and vegetables to the canteens .

There were however some complications regarding laws that deal with parents committees. The result of this was that the parents committees formed themselves into voluntary associations. This type of association was then recognised by the local authorities and allowed them to deal directly with the parents.

They were able to reduce the overall costs of the ingredients by introducing more variety into the meals particularly by using more fruit and vegetables and more grains or pulses and reducing the number of meals that contained meat. Today there are 55 meals provided to the nursery schools and 89 to the infant schools making 144, including teachers. These are 100% locally organically sourced. The meals cost approximately €1.10 for the nursery schools and about €1.40 - €1.50 for the infant schools.

In another organic school meals service in the province of Udine the ingredients cost themselves about 95¢ and the cost to the parents about €1.80. This is because in Merruzzo the local authority does not charge for the cost of the equipment, the cooks etc, but in the case of Udine it does. So in fact a realistic cost, or global cost, would be somewhere around €1.80 - €2.00. Parents committees themselves make a very small profit on this which they use to help finance meetings and to help support the establishment of new initiatives

Where the local authority administers the system they have a fairly high percentage of organic ingredients of up to 80%. Where the parents committees organise the school meals services that they have reached the highest percentage of local and organic ingredients, in fact approaching 100%, as they can buy direct and prices are kept reasonable. However where outside caterers are used they are often only able to reach 30%.

In Meruzzo one important factor in reducing costs is the great co-operation with local producers. The parents committees have actively sought local producers within the local area and have cultivated a relationship with them. The introduction of the regional subsidy system has however created the problem of excessive demand that cannot be met locally.

In many European countries parents, patients, schools, care homes and hospitals are beginning to re-ask questions about where ingredients are sourced, how they are cooked and what messages people receive about what makes a healthy diet and a healthy landscape. What is vital is to share and spread good practice like the Italian examples above and to work together to help create a more sustainable future for all Europeans.

After years of co-operative working on public food and wider farming issues NGO’s and farmers organisations from five countries recently formed AlimenTerra www.alimenterra.org as a practical not simply a lobbying organisation that supports and promotes sustainable food systems, through the development of practical projects and changes in food and agricultural policy at all geographical levels.

The author of this article Clive Peckham is the director of AlimenTerra and can be contacted on This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or Fax: 0033466246151.

*Synergy: Interaction of two or more agents to produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate effects.