The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Natural Environment, together with the Alimentant el Futur Network, held a conference this Saturday in the Cloister of Sant Domingo in Inca where agricultural producers and catering companies have studied how to increase the use of local and organic products in school canteens.
The meeting, under the title "News in school canteen and B2B catering/local producer tenders", has allowed for the analysis of the changes introduced in the new tenders for school canteens in the Balearic Islands.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Natural Environment in a press release, 14 local producers and four catering companies participated, who together prepare more than 5,000 menus a day.
The Director General of Agri-food Quality and Local Product, Joan Llabrés, was in charge of opening the conference and stressed that these meetings are "important" because they create spaces for direct relationships between the production sector and collective catering companies, which "facilitates new commercialization opportunities for local products".
Llabrés also explained the scope of the legal definition of local product and the main regulatory novelties related to public sector tenders in the autonomous community.
In this regard, he emphasized that introducing local products in school canteens not only has a positive impact on the primary sector, but also represents "an improvement in the quality of what the school population eats every day and contributes to reinforcing the consumption of local, seasonal and territory-linked products".
For this reason, he highlighted the collaboration between collective catering companies and local producers, considered a "key" element to enable the entry of fresh, seasonal and local food into school canteens, which in turn helps to boost the local economy, support the agricultural sector and promote healthy eating habits.
The Food for the Future Network, which collaborates with educational centers, families, producers, and collective catering companies to move towards more sustainable and territory-rooted food systems, has emphasized that it is "key" to promote meeting spaces like this one, where catering companies can get to know local and organic producers firsthand and, at the same time, understand the new requirements and opportunities arising from public tenders.
During the event, the talk "The culture of food safety: a fundamental pillar in school canteens" was given by the food safety coordinator for the Palma sector, Miguel Prieto, and different success stories and cooperation experiences between catering companies and local producers were presented.
One of the main focuses of the meeting was the B2B space between collective catering companies and agri-food producers, designed to facilitate commercial contacts, identify needs, and open new avenues for collaboration between both sectors.
Likewise, the regional secretary for Educational Development, Mateu Suñer, explained the changes included in the new specifications for school canteens, which set minimums of 10% local product and 10% organic product, as well as scoring criteria for companies that exceed these percentages and other regulatory novelties derived from the state Royal Decree on school canteens.