Food procurement in Norwegian upper secondary schools: Nutritional quality and environmental impact

Background and objectives: Public procurement may accelerate the transition to a more sustainable food system by stimulating access to, and demand for, healthy foods with a lower impact on climate and the environment. Currently, there is limited information about the potential use of public procurement as a tool for healthier and more sustainable diets. First, this study aimed to investigate the nutritional quality and environmental impact of food procurement among upper secondary schools in former Viken County in Norway. Second, we aimed to examine the nutritional and environmental impacts of changes in food procurement after one year of intervention for healthier and more sustainable school canteens, organised by former Viken County in collaboration with the guidance service “Matvalget”. Methods: The main sample included procurement data for a fiscal quarter from 38 upper secondary schools, including data from 36 and 17 schools in 2022 and in 2023, respectively. The subsample analysis included baseline and follow-up data after one year of intervention, for 8 schools that participated in the intervention and 7 control schools without intervention. After extensive data processing, data was imported to the nutritional calculation system Kostberegningssystemet (KBS, version AE-22) at the University of Oslo. KBS enables estimation of nutritional content and environmental impact of the procurement data, including greenhouse gas emissions, eutrophication of freshwater and marine waters, soil acidification, land- and water use. Results: Preliminary results for the main sample show that soft drinks contributed to the largest share (in grams) of the procurement, followed by milk (including flavoured milk), fresh/frozen vegetables, and bread. The preliminary subsample analysis found a lower share of soft drinks, and increased shares of milk, white unprocessed meat and vegetable oils in the intervention schools compared to control schools. Further results from the analysis will be available in spring 2024. Discussion: The preliminary subsample analysis suggests nutritional improvements in the procurement pattern for intervention schools, however further investigation is required to conclude. Public procurement data from electronic invoices require extensive data processing before analysis to be utilized as a tool for healthier and sustainable diets and there is a need to standardize input to increase usability of the data.