Sustainability of food systems, supported by public institutions, case of Slovenia

Abstract

Abstract Slovene National nutrition and PA strategy 2015-25 is comprehensively addressing food systems. Public institutions, offering food programs to specific population groups such as children in kindergartens, students in primary and secondary schools, older adults in residential homes, patients in hospitals, all create a substantial demand for foods, purchased partially from the public budget. For food programs there are nutrition guidelines, for school environment mandatory in the School Nutrition Law. The extent of the foods, purchased in short food chains has the effect on local economies in rural communities, on the environment and also on the quality of foods per se, as food could be harvested when fully ripped. Slovenia has established the Catalogue of foods as a support for transparent food public procurements in 2018. As children spend almost a third of their day in kindergarten or school and consume a large part of their daily energy intake in educational environments, such types of environments present important factors in the development of child nutrition habits. Strong evidence of the importance of access to healthy and balanced nutrition in schools for children's health is available, and a nutritionally regulated school environment is associated with a lower risk of childhood obesity, which can also be facilitated by a transparent and quality-oriented procurement system. In Slovenia, all schools have kitchens, which serve up to four fresh cooked meals per day (breakfast - uptake around 17% of all Slovene primary school children, mainly in younger age groups, mid-morning snack - uptake around 98%; lunch, uptake around 70%, afternoon snack - uptake around 20%). Around one quarter of Slovene primary school students from lower SES get school meals fully subsidized. Total ban on vending machines in primary schools, preventing from snacking, is in place since 2010. Organized school nutrition enables women in Slovenia to enter labour market equally.