School canteens: organic and sustainable in the cabbage

Will menus based on canned food, tasteless hamburger patties, and frozen breaded fish soon be a distant memory in school cafeterias? In a sign of the times, last week, eight city halls, including those in Paris and Lyon , banned tuna from their menus as a precautionary measure following the publication in October 2024 of a report warning of the mercury levels in canned tuna by the NGO Bloom.

The quality of food served in schools, colleges, and high schools is no longer the sole preserve of parents concerned about their children's health. The 2020 law for balanced commercial relations in the agricultural and food sector and healthy, sustainable, and accessible food for all, known as Egalim, supplemented by the 2021 Climate and Resilience Act, has set targets in this area. Since January 2022, menus must include at least 50% "sustainable and quality products," including at least 20% organic products, and one vegetarian meal per week. These targets will be supplemented in January 2024 with a move to 60% sustainable and quality products for meat and fish.

So much for the principle. On the plates, however, almost five years later, the numbers still aren't there. Despite the legal obligation to report to Parliament on compliance with these objectives, the data is more than patchy. On "ma-cantine," the official dedicated website, only 35% of school catering services reported the proportion of quality and organic supplies as part of the 2025 data reporting campaign for 2024 (compared to 39% for all collective catering services). And among them, barely 26% of school canteens, at all levels, met the objectives of the Egalim law.

A lack of reliable statistics and a very clear delay in getting started were highlighted by a Senate commission of inquiry in a report on public procurement presented on July 9. "Since the adoption of the Egalim law, governments have thought it would happen on its own," laments Simon Uzenat, Socialist senator for Morbihan and president of the commission. Lacking state support, the implementation of this new legal framework is considered "embryonic" by the elected representatives of the Upper House, particularly in small municipalities.

"The development of the Egalim law took place during a period of budgetary constraints with many difficulties, and we have no support from the state," adds Gilles Pérole, co-chair of the "school catering" working group at the Association of Mayors of France (AMF). As a result, according to a 2024 study conducted by the AMF, only 18% of municipalities were in compliance – primary school canteens are under the responsibility of municipalities.

The fault, according to the AMF's 2024 study, lies with logistical difficulties, insufficient diversity or quantity in the supply of sustainable products, and above all the financial impact of this new regulation. The supply of sustainable and quality products results in an additional cost of between +10 and +20% for local authorities, according to the AMF. "Without sufficient financial support, the additional cost, largely borne by local authorities, weakens local budgets and explains why many municipalities have not yet achieved the objectives of the law," analyzes the national school catering union representing service providers such as Sodexo, Elior, and Compass Group (the three leaders in the sector) which, according to its data, provide approximately 30% of meals in this sector with a turnover of €4 billion.

The AMF has been constantly sounding the alarm with public authorities. On April 16, it sent a letter to the Minister of Agriculture, Annie Genevard, alerting her to "the difficulties experienced by a certain number of local authorities in a context of rising costs and budgetary restrictions." On July 15, a second letter called for a new public procurement framework to help municipalities comply with Egalim. The ministry's responses have not led to anything "concrete," according to Gilles Pérole.

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The period is, admittedly, not conducive to additional funding. Government aid allowing rural communities to offer €1 school meals to the poorest families, with a bonus awarded to communities that have met Egalim's objectives, was frozen in July for new registrations. The reason? "A large number of applications," said the Ministry of Labor, Health, Solidarity, and Families. "As if the poorest were only in rural communities," comments Gilles Pérole.

The significant constraints associated with public procurement, which slow down the process, also complicate matters for elected officials. Another pitfall: local sourcing, particularly sought after by local authorities, is not among the criteria used in the Egalim law to define "sustainable and quality products." This is unlike quality labels (Label Rouge, AOC, AOP, etc.). But the latter carry significantly higher prices. The only improvement is that since 2022, farmers have organized and structured themselves into sectors to obtain more certification.

But it's not all doom and gloom. Locally, some initiatives are flourishing to develop catering services. The territorial cooperation association AgriParis Seine, which brings together the communities of the Seine basin, including Rouen, Le Havre, and the city of Paris, has set itself the mission, since its creation in 2023, of facilitating links between local agricultural cooperatives and communities. It pursues a dual objective: on the one hand, to enable producers to make themselves known, because "it is very difficult to have a global vision. Market data is public but scattered across the internet," explains the association's director, Léa Barbier. And on the other, to support managers in the twists and turns of the tendering process.

A process that can sometimes prove particularly complex. An example? "If they write a batch for a fruit and vegetable and put bananas in the middle, this excludes the small producer who doesn't produce them from the offer," explains Léa Barbier. Furthermore, European legislation prevents the indication of a geographical origin in the call and forces cheating (an aberration for many of the stakeholders interviewed). In the association's sights: healthier food on the plates of students, and an economic outlet for farmers. "If Egalim's requirements were respected, the organic sector would practically be out of trouble," reports Senator Simon Uzenat.