Federal and Provincial governments switch to regional procurement

With the National Action Plan for Sustainable Public Procurement (abbr. “NaBe”) an important milestone has been set towards the regional procurement of food in canteens run by federal institutions. Even before the decision was taken in the Council of Ministers, the Conference of provincial agricultural officers unanimously decided to implement this Action Plan in the Provinces.

1.8 million people in Austria are offered meals in canteens every day, around 450,000 of them in public canteens (including federal and provincial organisations as well as municipal responsibilities), which have a cost of goods of 1.35 million euros per day and more than 330 million euros per year.

The 2018 amendment to the Federal Procurement Act also set the course for the best bidder principle for the entire public sector food procurement: Since then, a stronger focus has to be placed on quality criteria and follow-up costs.

Regionality and seasonality lead to short transport routes. The Action Plan and the "Austria eats regional" project are intended to bring us an important step closer to the goal of 100 percent regional food procurement.

Together with the Federal Provinces, Bundesbeschaffungsgesellschaft mbH was commissioned to implement the "Forum Österreich isst regional" (Forum Austria eats regional) project. With the involvement of the federal ministries, social partners, AMA-Marketing GesmbH and the Culinary Network, efforts are taken to implement a transformation process with increased awareness-raising, increasing regionality, strengthening seasonality, supporting climate targets, promoting animal welfare and production standards, implementing digital interfaces through the implementation of pilot projects, workshops, excursions, networking and events. The forum also sees itself as a service centre for the public procurement of food for purchasing managers, kitchen managers and stakeholders.

Criteria for public food procurement from the Action Plan:

• As far as possible, 100 percent of the food procured comes from the region.
  Fruit and vegetables are as seasonal as possible.
• The following minimum proportions of the food must come from organic production:
  • At least 25 percent from 2023
  • At least 30 percent from 2025
  • At least 55 percent from 2030
• GMO-free feed for beef and pork (chicken is already GMO-free):
  • At least 5 percent from 2021
  • At least 40 percent from 2023
  • 100 percent from 2025
• Fresh eggs with shell, liquid eggs and powdered eggs come from outdoor or free-range systems with the AMA quality label or the AMA organic seal.
• Animal products (eggs and meat) come from farms that are members of an authorised animal health service.
• Meat products are now available only with the AMA quality label “Mehr Tierwohl” (more animal welfare, i.e. more space, more manipulable material, more bedding, no interventions) or similar standards.
• Fish comes from regional waters or from sustainable species-specific aquaculture.
• Origin labelling in canteens:
  • Meat, eggs and milk (labelled with at least "Austria", "EU" or "non-EU") must be clearly visible. For meat, origin means where the animals were born, fattened and slaughtered.
  • Meat, eggs and milk from organic production must be labelled (at least "organic milk", "organic meat", "organic eggs").

The Federal Government is thus leading the way in labelling origin and is already implementing what is planned for retail shelves and canteens in public space.