Noreen Lanigan, Established Markets Manager, Bord Bia – Irish Food Board
Public sector canteens (schools, hospitals, nursing homes and prisons primarily) in France serve 3.7 billion meals per annum to over 15 million people, accounting for approximately 10% of the French food market. Following an initial directive in 2007, as part of the Grenelle Environment Forum, imposing French public school canteens to source 20% of their inputs from organic suppliers by 2012; the French government published new legislation last week (24th April 2019) to enforce all public sector canteens to follow suit by 1st January 2022.
The directive which is part of a wider bill known as EGAlim, also imposes that up to 50% of ingredients used by public sector canteens should be sourced from sustainable suppliers which they define loosely as suppliers with an origin or quality label for example (but not exhaustive) PGI, AOC, organic or commercial labels like Label Rouge and Max Havelaar. The new directive will also require, over time, that public sector canteens monitor the cost of the lifecycle of the products they source, however no standardised life cycle analysis model has been agreed. While overall this new legislation aims to encourage local sourcing and improve trading conditions for French farmers, there are some concerns amongst French producers that local supply may not meet the demand, and also that imported products may have a more favourable life cycle analysis. Some analysts have criticised the new legislation because it didn’t set any targets to remove plastic or reduce animal proteins in public sector canteens.
According to an article in Le Figaro in August 2018, Parisian secondary schools already surpass the minimum requirement of 20%, sourcing up to 50% of their ingredients from organic suppliers. Local government in the Greater Paris Region invested €1.5million to date to assist 13 secondary schools in the region to meet this target, with a number of other regional initiatives throughout the country following suit.
While the public sector food market in France has traditionally been relatively closed to non-French supplier and this new legislation unofficially aimed to reinforce this, it may however offer some opportunities for Origin Green verified members and organic producers if they can compete in the highly price sensitive public sector canteen channel.
References:
French Department of Agriculture (2019) https://agriculture.gouv.fr/50-de-produits-bio-de-qualite-et-durables-dans-la-restauration-collective-horizon-2022
Bordas Willy, Le Figaro (2018) https://etudiant.lefigaro.fr/article/lycees-50-des-produits-servis-dans-les-cantines-d-ile-de-france-seront-bio-en-2024_8ad3959c-aabc-11e8-bc61-2e9f952ed857/
(2018) https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/affichTexte.do?cidTexte=JORFTEXT000037547946&categorieLien=id
CAN (2017) https://www.cna-alimentation.fr/v2/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/CNA_Avis77.pdf