Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

Abstract

School meals form an important part of public catering and have the potential to act as a powerful sustainable development lever. This study investigated the composition and sustainability of school lunches in Swedish primary schools across 71 municipalities between 2019 and 2025 using menu data extracted from three school menu databases. In total, 10 sustainability indicators, covering both environmental and social sustainability were evaluated using the SAFAD tool. The impacts were assessed against relevant planetary boundaries.
Based on the most frequently served menu combinations, it was found that animal-source dishes remained the dominant, and expanding, school lunch option. Animal-source dishes constituted 65% of primary (first option) offering, with meat and poultry serving increasing by 3 and 4 percentage points, respectively, over the investigated period. Conversely, a nearly 8 percentage point decrease in vegetarian options in school menus was noted based on estimated portions served. The inclusion of both environmental and social sustainability indicators allowed to investigate the trade-offs associated with different animal-source protein options, such as poultry-related animal welfare concerns. It was further found that school meals trespass four of the six studied planetary boundaries: carbon footprint, extinction rate, nitrogen input and phosphorous input and that the provision of milk as a part of the school lunch exacerbates the impacts, pushing cropland use beyond the safe planetary limit.