Serving Up: Aligning Public Procurement Of Food For Uk Public Institutions With Healthy Sustainable Diets

Generated Summary

This policy briefing provides recommendations for how public procurement policy can support healthy sustainable diets in the UK. It focuses on aligning public procurement of food for UK public institutions with healthy, sustainable diets, emphasizing the role of the government, local authorities, and mayors in promoting these changes. The briefing outlines key policy recommendations, including reforming dietary guidelines, mandating food buying standards, and providing adequate funding to ensure a right to food approach. The methodology involves analyzing existing data, case studies, and expert opinions to formulate actionable strategies for shifting towards healthier and more sustainable food procurement practices. The scope encompasses various aspects of the food system, from production to consumption, and considers environmental, health, and economic impacts. The primary aim is to provide practical and affordable measures to achieve these goals, supporting the right to food and a more just food system.

Key Findings & Statistics

• Approximately £2 billion is spent annually on public procurement of food and catering services in the UK.
• The EAT-Lancet Planetary Health Diet suggests an average dietary emissions of 2.13 kgCO2eq per person in emissions per day, which equates to 0.64 kgCO2eq per 750kcal meal for lunch and dinner.
• The Oxford University study found that reducing average meat consumption in the UK to two to three servings per person per week could prevent 45,000 premature deaths and reduce NHS costs by £1.2 billion per year.
• A peer-reviewed study estimated that the EAT-Lancet diet would be 17% cheaper than the UK’s current average diet in 2017, with savings to health and climate change costs.
• Polling from 2021 found that 68% of the public agreed that public sector food should provide a healthy and sustainable diet and 80% said public canteens should help people minimize their impact on the environment and limit climate change.
• The Scottish Government requires that “No more than a total of 175g of red and red processed meat (cooked weight) can be provided in school lunches over the course of the school week, of which no more than 100g (cooked weight) can be red processed meat”.
• The EAT-Lancet diet recommends no more than 98g red meat per week in total.
• In 2022, all 11 New York City public hospitals rolled out a program of making plant-based meals the default option for patients.
• This resulted in a 36% reduction in emissions from the hospitals’ food procurement, with cost savings of 59 cents per meal.
• The NHS serves approximately 199 million meals per year, and assuming 55% of patients choose a plant-based option, this would equate to about 119.4 million meals, resulting in approximately £54.9 million in potential savings to the NHS per year.
• If high-income nations aligned their diets with the EAT-Lancet diet, this would reduce annual agricultural production emissions associated with their diets by 61% and result in enough spared land to sequester as much as 98.3 GtCO2eq.
• A recent study of UK diets found that low-meat diets have approximately half the emissions and land use of high meat diets, whilst vegan diets have around a quarter of the emissions and land use as a high meat diet.
• A meta-study of the impact of serving plant-based meals as the default option, found that the policy reduced meat consumption by between 53-87%.
• In Germany, 12 hospitals are serving meals aligned with the EAT-Lancet Planetary Health Diet – with 13,000 meals produced per day.

Other Important Findings

• The UK government should set in law universal minimum standards for all public institutions in their procurement of food, informed by general principles.
• Targets should be set to ensure that 50% of food procured is locally produced or certified to higher environmental standards.
• Public services should make it easy for the public to choose healthy sustainable meals, so plant-based meals should be made available every day.
• School Food Standards should be reformed such that “a portion of plant-based protein must be provided every day”.
• Public institutions and large and medium catering companies should measure and publicly report their food waste and have action plans to halve food waste emissions per meal served by 2030.
• The UK should ensure that its procurement practices are not supporting exploitative unfair trade with producers in the Global South.
• All companies bidding for catering contracts over £5 million must have a net zero strategy which includes all Scope 3 emissions from their food sourcing supply chains.
• Four Labour councils (Hackney, Hounslow, Lambeth, and Newham) signed up to London’s Food Purchasing Commitment, which includes a target that by 2030 menus must have an average GHG value of no greater than 1.04kgCO2eq per 1000 kcal meal.
• London under Sadiq Khan signed up to the C40 Good Food Cities Declaration, which includes a commitment to aligning food procurement with the EAT-Lancet Planetary Health Diet.

Limitations Noted in the Document

• The study acknowledges that the estimated savings and impacts are based on modeling and extrapolations, indicating a degree of uncertainty.
• The brief relies on existing studies and reports, which may have their own methodological limitations and biases.
• The success of the recommendations depends on effective implementation and enforcement by various stakeholders.
• The reliance on the EAT-Lancet diet and similar models assumes their universal applicability and may not fully account for regional or cultural variations.
• The effectiveness of the proposed targets and standards is contingent on accurate monitoring and data collection.

Conclusion

The policy briefing underscores the crucial role of public procurement in driving a transition towards healthy and sustainable diets. It highlights the potential for significant environmental, health, and economic benefits through the implementation of specific measures. The recommendations emphasize the importance of reforming dietary guidelines, mandating food buying standards, and ensuring adequate funding to support these initiatives. The success of these efforts depends on the collaboration of the government, local authorities, and communities, as well as the active participation of various stakeholders in the food system. The briefing provides a clear roadmap for action, urging policymakers to adopt and enforce the proposed strategies. The findings emphasize that the alignment of public food procurement with the principles of the EAT-Lancet diet can lead to substantial reductions in emissions, improved health outcomes, and increased economic savings. Key to the success of these policies is the commitment to inclusivity, ensuring that diverse communities have access to healthy, sustainable meal options. The briefing emphasizes the need for continuous monitoring and improvement, recommending that all public institutions and companies measure and reduce food waste. The central message is that by embracing these policy recommendations, the UK can significantly contribute to a more sustainable, equitable, and healthy food system, which will, in turn, support the well-being of the population and protect the environment for future generations. The authors conclude that there is a great opportunity to support the shift to healthy sustainable diets, through public food procurement.