This school year, public school canteens in the province of Almería will serve a total of 521,676 kilos of organic products, the result of collaboration in this area between the Ministries of Educational Development and Vocational Training and Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development, through the collaboration protocol signed by the Andalusian Public Education Agency and the Agency for Agricultural and Fisheries Management of Andalusia to promote the consumption of organic products in school canteens.
Currently, in the 1,437 school canteens in the autonomous community of Andalusia that are run on a catering basis, dishes containing organic products are served, which are consumed every day by 128,589 boys and girls. This has been possible thanks to the inclusion, by the Public Education Agency and with the technical support of Agriculture, of an award criterion in the contracting documents for the canteen service that scores the commitment assumed by the collective catering companies that participate in these tenders to incorporate organic products in the preparation of the menus.
In the last tender for this service, carried out in 2024, this criterion has had a weight of up to 15 points out of 100 in the criteria for awarding contracts, and all the successful collective catering companies (a total of 17) have committed to including these ingredients in their dishes. In this way, organic food now reaches all the canteens managed through the Public Education Agency.
More than 25.4 million kilos since 2019
Since the 2019-20 academic year, more than 19.7 million kilos of organic products have been cooked in public canteens in Andalusia, a figure that, added to the forecast for this academic year, will mean exceeding 25.4 million kilos in 2025.
Among the most common organic products served to students in Andalusian canteens are fruit, processed products such as fried tomatoes, preserves or fourth-range vegetables; potatoes and other vegetables, bread, legumes and rice, etc. These products are supplied mainly by Andalusian organic suppliers, which total 65.
The Andalusian Agency for Agricultural and Fisheries Management collaborates with the Andalusian Public Education Agency in monitoring and controlling compliance with the commitments made by companies awarded school canteen contracts. In addition, it works directly with catering companies to advise them on making decisions when purchasing organic food.
