Public Procurement Act: Eat Europe and Farm Europe welcome the inclusion of food and calls for stronger action on food quality and public health

Eat Europe and Farm Europe welcome the recent inclusion of a specific provision on food in the proposed Public Procurement Act, just released. We have always advocated for public procurement as one of the most effective tools available to public authorities to drive healthier, higher-quality food systems. Public canteens — particularly in schools and hospitals — are not simply places where meals are served: they are powerful instruments for shaping dietary habits and protecting public health. We therefore welcome the fact that, although it was not included in the initial proposal, the Act now contains a specific provision addressing food. Failing to recognise the impact of public procurement rules in canteens on human health would have represented a major step backwards.

However, in its current form, the proposal does not yet go far enough in recognising the crucial role that public procurement can play in protecting and improving citizens’ health through access to quality food. 

In particular, the proposal relies on a voluntary approach when it comes to considering food quality criteria. Given the scale of the public procurement market and its direct impact on the diets of millions of citizens, we believe that certain quality considerations should be mandatory rather than simply encouraged.

“We welcome the strong focus on natural and seasonal food, as well as the recognition that the organisation of the food supply chain, including its local dimension, should be taken into account,” said Yves Madre, President of Farm Europe. “These are now fundamental criteria for European citizens when making food choices and should be reflected in greater coherence in public procurement, and in the future rules governing the common market organisation for agricultural products, as already recognised by the ongoing work of the European Parliament.”

Freshness and seasonality, organic and quality schemes, and the pattern that food makes along the chain, are important and welcome principles. Nevertheless, the concept of food quality remains too narrow: public procurement should also explicitly recognise the importance of prioritising short chains and minimally processed foods and should provide the possibility to restrict or prohibit the procurement of ultra-processed foods (UPFs), at least in particularly sensitive settings such as schools and hospitals.

“This is not an unrealistic ambition. Similar approaches are already beginning to emerge in different parts of the world,” said Luigi Scordamaglia, President of Eat Europe. “Within Europe, we have several examples in this direction: Rome, Paris and many others small and medium cities, demonstrating that public authorities can act decisively when health considerations are placed at the heart of food procurement” he concluded.

When it comes to UPFs, there is no longer time to wait. Initiatives promoted by Commissioner Várhelyi are moving in the right direction, but there remains too much reluctance to confront the issue and too much tendency to delay decisions on measures capable of addressing what is already one of the major food-related public health challenges facing our societies.

Eat Europe and Farm Europe therefore expect the European Parliament to begin, from the outset, a serious reflection on how to strengthen the proposal along these lines. This should include moving beyond a predominantly voluntary framework and ensuring that public procurement rules are designed first and foremost in the public interest.

“The debate should not be shaped by the interests of large food corporations whose primary objective is profit, but by the responsibility of policymakers to safeguard human health and ensure that public money contributes to healthier food systems, in particular providing effective and mandatory tools to contrast the spread of UPFs especially when it comes to rules on how to spend public money” said Luigi Scordamaglia, President of Eat Europe.