Sustainable Food School Program

Unity of Food and Schooler Health, Education Department, Municipality of Torres Vedras, Portugal

 Abstract: Torres Vedras is a county in the west of Portugal with about 80.000 inhabitants and 407 km2. This area is divided into 13 smaller regions, known as “councils”, each one of them with its own Local Public Authority. In the 2006/2007 school year the National Government established the obligation of all the municipalities to be in charge for managing the school meals for kindergartens and primary schools and, in 2020 all school levels became part of the Municipality’s management. At the present moment, around 6.000 are served in schools per day. Instead of hiring a single catering company, the municipality decided to opt for an integrated strategy of governance and territorial development. This involved: 1) Decentralization to local public authorities: For the 12 small regions outside the city area, the responsibility for school meals was decentralized to the local public authorities. This means these authorities, rather than a central body or a private company, manage the school meal services in their respective areas by acquiring this service from the local NGOs; 2) Direct management in the city: In the city area, the Municipality directly manages the school meals through five municipal kitchens. These kitchens not only provide meals, but also serve as a “laboratory” for creating guidelines to the NGOs.