Examining purchasing strategies in public food procurement: Integrating sustainability, nutrition, and health in Spanish school meals and social care centres

IF 6.8 1区经济学 Q1 AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS & POLICY

Food Policy Pub Date : 2024-10-24 DOI:10.1016/j.foodpol.2024.102742

Daniel Gaitán-Cremaschi , Diego Valbuena

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Sustainable Public Food Procurement (SPFP) is pivotal in advancing sustainable and healthier food systems. However, practical gaps persist in understanding how policies function at the local implementation. This study addresses these gaps by analysing 22 SPFP contracts for school meals and social care centres in Spain, focusing on implementation while contextualizing findings within the broader policy cycle. This research categorizes SPFP criteria in tenders and evaluate their potential for actionability across sustainability, nutrition, & health dimensions. It also explores how these criteria are combined into purchasing strategies to achieve simultaneous or individual goals. Key findings reveal a strong use of product quality criteria, particularly organic foods, supported by policy and ease of implementation. However, non-ambitious targets, market constraints and procurement officers’ limited knowledge hinder progress. The study highlights significant adoption of nutritional & health criteria, though non-mandatory policies and varying regional targets impede consistent implementation and reveal gaps in promoting healthy and sustainable dietary practices. Environmental criteria are widely used signalling policy priorities within the EU policy framework. In contrast, proximity and social criteria are underutilized due to regulatory constraints and insufficient guidance. Despite these challenges, innovative local procurement strategies are utilized to overcome barriers. At the strategy level, the study reveals diverse approaches to SPFP implementation, highlighting adaptability but underscoring the need for flexible frameworks that accommodate local variations while aligning with broader EU or national goals. This research advocates for a holistic approach to SPFP that addresses both the practical challenges of implementation and the systemic issues present in the earlier stages of policy development.

查看原文本刊更多论文

研究公共食品采购中的采购策略：西班牙学校膳食和社会护理中心的可持续性、营养和健康一体化

可持续公共粮食采购（SPFP）在推进可持续和更健康的粮食系统方面至关重要。然而，在了解政策如何在地方实施中发挥作用方面仍存在实际差距。本研究通过分析西班牙学校膳食和社会护理中心的 22 份 SPFP 合同来弥补这些差距，重点关注执行情况，同时将研究结果纳入更广泛的政策周期中。本研究对招标中的 SPFP 标准进行了分类，并评估了其在可持续性、营养、& 健康等方面的可操作性潜力。研究还探讨了如何将这些标准结合到采购战略中，以实现同时或单独的目标。主要研究结果表明，在政策支持和易于实施的情况下，产品质量标准，尤其是有机食品标准得到了广泛应用。然而，目标不明确、市场限制和采购人员知识有限阻碍了进展。研究强调了营养和ampamp 的大量采用；健康标准，尽管非强制性政策和不同的地区目标阻碍了一致的实施，并揭示了在促进健康和可持续饮食习惯方面的差距。在欧盟政策框架内，环境标准被广泛采用，标志着政策的优先次序。相比之下，由于监管限制和指导不足，邻近性和社会标准未得到充分利用。尽管存在这些挑战，创新的本地采购战略仍被用来克服障碍。在战略层面，研究揭示了实施 SPFP 的不同方法，突出了适应性，但强调需要灵活的框架，以适应当地的差异，同时与更广泛的欧盟或国家目标保持一致。本研究主张对 SPFP 采取整体方法，既要解决实施过程中的实际挑战，又要解决政策制定早期阶段存在的系统性问题。

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来源期刊

Food Policy 管理科学-农业经济与政策

CiteScore

11.40

自引率

4.60%

发文量

128

审稿时长

62 days

期刊介绍： Food Policy is a multidisciplinary journal publishing original research and novel evidence on issues in the formulation, implementation, and evaluation of policies for the food sector in developing, transition, and advanced economies. Our main focus is on the economic and social aspect of food policy, and we prioritize empirical studies informing international food policy debates. Provided that articles make a clear and explicit contribution to food policy debates of international interest, we consider papers from any of the social sciences. Papers from other disciplines (e.g., law) will be considered only if they provide a key policy contribution, and are written in a style which is accessible to a social science readership.