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Schools Adopting Good Food Purchasing Policy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Chicago Public School Board has voted to adopt the Good Food Purchasing Program, which will mean better nutrition for 380,000 students. Chicago Public Schools serves 27 million breakfasts and 43 million lunches each school year, at a cost of $80 million. The policy will shift these procurement dollars toward food that is sustainable, local, humane, fair and healthy.

       The Good Food Purchasing Program provides a metric-based framework and set of tools that guide institutions to direct their buying power to suppliers that meet benchmarks related to five core values: local economies, environmental sustainability, valued workforce, animal welfare and nutrition.

       The Good Food Purchasing Program is a leading model across the country, and the first of its kind to support these food system values in equal measure. In California last year, the San Francisco Unified School District and Oakland Unified School Districts formally adopted the program, following the leadership of Los Angeles Unified School District in 2012.

       Colleen McKinney, associate director of the Center for Good Food Purchasing, states, “Imagine the impact if the largest public institutions in cities across the country took a unified stand for Good Food. We could redirect billions of dollars to suppliers that share our values, create ripple effects throughout the industry and influence the national conversation around what a truly equitable and sustainable food system looks like.”

For more information, visit GoodFoodPurchasing.org.