Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

Food purchasing decisions in the public sector can have many different impacts when three million meals are served each day in Sweden. Planning and working towards more sustainable food purchases can benefit biodiversity, public health, and reduce climate impact. It has been shown that children who receive lunch in school are taller and have a higher lifetime income. Several policies affect public meals, like the food strategy, regulations from the Swedish Food Agency and decisions within the municipalities. Since Sweden has municipal autonomy, how the public meals are regulated can differ. This thesis aims to explore and understand how Swedish municipalities work with sustainable food and what goals they have in this area. Data was gathered with an online survey. Food waste was one of the themes that reoccurred several times. Most municipalities measure food waste in preschool, primary school and secondary school. It was less common to measure food waste in the nursing homes, partly due to the work being different. Food can also be used as an educational resource, and this can be done in many ways, like pedagogic meals, calculating the climate impact of meals, and spreading knowledge about what constitutes a healthy and sustainable diet. These are some of the educational efforts by different municipalities. The work on sustainable food is going forward, and some great efforts are being made. Unfortunately, the efforts are altogether not enough - an accelerated approach is needed in order to reach the targets.