Since 2020, Sportello Mense BIO (Organic Canteen Desk) is managed by Federbio Servizi and addresses all stakeholders in the catering industry, in particular schools, to promote the introduction and continuous supply of organic food, in line with national and EU guidelines and espousing the principles of the New Green Deal that consider the promotion of organic food to be one of the qualifying elements of ecological reconversion.
The service is aimed at local authorities that manage school catering services, schools, catering companies, canteen committees with teachers and parents and operators of organic supply chains throughout Italy.
Specifically, School Cafeterias represent the central sales channel for organic products, characterising a pillar of the green policies of municipalities and constituting a fundamental element of health promotion and nutrition education for the younger generations attending Italian schools, from kindergartens up to lower secondary school.
Our country has had clear national and regional guidelines in place since the beginning of 2000. The various guidelines, both set by the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Agriculture, have dispensed over the years clear prescriptions accompanying the indications for proper nutrition with the aim of integrating with the high-quality organic supply chains produced by Italian agriculture. The recent Minimum Environmental Criteria of Canteens of the Ministry of the Environment specify these objectives in even more stringent detail.
There are issues to be addressed in order to ensure that menus are adequate, to build efficient supply chains and consider, without resorting to ideological excess, the need to source products from local farms.
School cafeterias are a crossroads of interests and policies for public administrations, schools, catering companies, agricultural sectors and citizens/parents. A great laboratory in which sustainable development policies, food education and citizenship training are tested. High goals that must be based on economic sustainability and system efficiency.
In order to respond to all this, Sportello Mense BIO of FederBio Servizi supports public administrations, examines development policies dedicated to the organic and biodigliano sector, provides assistance in the introduction of organic products in school cafeterias, operates a permanent information service, provides advice by telephone and email in real time or by appointment with experts on food, prices, availability, menus, specifications, administrative and legal aspects.
In addition, it provides a permanent information service to assist contracting bodies in the implementation of sustainable development policies. Furthermore, in order to assist contracting authorities, the desk supports the drafting of tender specifications and provides certificates if organic references are not available. It also collaborates with schools and municipalities on issues of food education with the intention of communicating and disseminating the principles of organic farming and food sustainability and instill a healthy and conscious lifestyle.
For information: sportello@mensebio.it.
