Sustainable School Feeding Network (RAES) promoted dialogue among countries for the exchange of knowledge and good practices, uniting food education and combating waste
Santiago de Chile, April 29, 2021 – “It is imperative to deepen the reflection on the impacts of waste, especially in the context of the pandemic,” said Ambassador Ruy Pereira, director of the Brazilian Cooperation Agency of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (ABC/MRE), at the opening of the Dialogue on Food Waste in Schools: Challenges and Possibilities, promoted by the Sustainable School Feeding Network (RAES), on April 27. Pereira highlighted Brazil’s alliance with the FAO, in the Trilateral South-South cooperation carried out more than 12 years ago, affirming that school feeding represents a concrete alternative to combat hunger and poverty and promote economic development and social inclusion.
The RAES Network was created in 2018 by the Government of Brazil, represented by the ABC/MRE and the National Fund for Educational Development (FNDE/MEC), and has the support of the FAO in the framework of the project Consolidation of Programs of School Feeding in Latin America and the Caribbean. The Network is currently made up of 21 countries in the region.
The virtual dialogue was seen by more than 2,200 live viewers, including government managers and technicians from countries in the region and others interested in the subject. The event promoted the exchange of experiences for the development of knowledge and good practices related to the mitigation of food waste in school environments.
At the inauguration, the president of the FNDE, Marcelo Lopes da Ponte, said that the National School Feeding Program (PNAE) of Brazil has become a channel for the promotion of healthy eating habits and this can contribute to the advancement of school feeding programs in America Latin and the Caribbean. According to Ponte, PNAE assists more than 41 million students with school meals every day.
Rafael Zavala, representative of FAO Brazil, highlighted the “need for clearer statistics on food waste in schools” for better action planning. The representative talked about the importance of prioritizing the consumption of fresh food, buying from family farming and adapting diets to local traditions. Regarding RAES, he said that the Network “can serve as an agent of change in Brazil and the countries of the region.”
Losses and waste in the region
The Food Policies and Systems officer of the FAO Office for Latin America and the Caribbean, Joao Intini, presented a regional scenario of losses and waste. According to Intini, it is important to know what environmental, personal and economic resources are invested in food production. He also said that this would be a starting point for awareness about its value, its contribution to health and the repercussions for the environment. “Food losses and waste are an opportunity to change the pattern of consumption, to go back to consuming fresh and healthy food.” He also defended technology, creativity and cooperation to mitigate the problem.
Overview of food waste and the school environment
The regional coordinator of the project Consolidation of School Feeding Programs in Latin America and the Caribbean, Najla Veloso, presented some reflections on food waste and its relationship with the school environment. Veloso said that waste in the school environment occurs in various spaces, has responsibility shared by various actors and that the issue is related to environmental, social, cultural and economic issues.
Veloso pointed out the importance of planning to prevent or mitigate waste in schools, highlighting as one of the solutions the optimization of the use of organic and non-organic waste produced during the preparation and consumption of food. “The best prevention is to have adequate, healthy menus in accordance with the eating habits of each country,” he said.
The Brazilian experience
Karine Santos, national coordinator of the PNAE of Brazil, presented the actions carried out by the FNDE to reduce food waste in schools, based on the country’s school feeding policy. According to the her, “school feeding has a great impact on society”, highlighting the universality of the Brazilian program that reaches more than 150,000 schools throughout the country. As one of the food and nutrition education strategies, Santos commented on the action developed in the educational books distributed in public elementary schools, which have messages on healthy eating.
On the issue of food waste in schools, the PNAE coordinator presented data from a survey on the performance of the PNAE’s nutritionists on this issue. According to the data, 65% of the nutritionists answered that this topic is part of their routine and planning. About losses and waste, 68% of nutrition professionals classified as low and 38% do not know how to estimate the percentage of waste. The measurement of losses and waste in schools was carried out by monitoring and weighing the rest of the food and clean leftovers, applying the acceptability test and visual observation, among others.
Overview of FAO actions
The FAO Mesoamerica Nutrition Officer, Israel Ríos, presented an overview of the actions carried out by FAO to combat poverty and malnutrition in the region, underlining that between 20 and 40% of schoolchildren in Latin America have obesity or overweight. He defended the importance of school meals to ensure a healthy diet. Ríos said that hunger and malnutrition should addressed from the food systems perspective, making the supply chain favor the availability and production of healthy food, and also promoting healthy and sustainable food environments. According to the official, healthy diets cost 60% more than those that only meet essential needs. “Urgent action is needed to support a shift to make healthy diets available,” he stressed.
Ríos pointed out that the Brazil-FAO Cooperation in school feeding has generated “a revolution in school feeding programs in the region”, mentioning advances in terms of food policy school based on the Human Right to Food. Likewise, he also highlighted the importance of the RAES as a space to share experiences, lessons learned and promote dialogue among countries.
The inclusion of gastronomy
The director of the National School Aid and Scholarship Board (Junaeb) of Chile, Jaime Tohá, and Juan Pablo Mellado, FAO consultant chef and director of the Junaeb Gastronomic Laboratory, presented the initiative to include gastronomy as a strategy for the reduction of food waste in the SFPs of Chile, Guatemala, Colombia and the Dominican Republic. According to Tohá, the Chilean food program already had a nutritional contribution and safety, but it lacked gastronomy, which led to the creation of the Gastronomic Laboratory 4 years ago. With this initiative there was an increase in the acceptance of food by students. The laboratory recognizes the food realities of the original territories.
In turn, Mellado, presented the pilot project carried out by FAO in three countries that included gastronomic criteria and techniques in school menus. Techniques were introduced such as: use of spices and aromatic herbs to enhance flavors and making soft drinks with natural ingredients, improvement in sanitary practices, among others. The impact demonstrated by the pilot was an increase in the acceptance of the menu and a decrease in food losses and waste in schools. “Investing in gastronomy promotes benefits in terms of optimizing the use of public resources,” said the Chilean chef.
This regional dialogue was the first activity promoted by the RAES in 2021 and began discussions on the issue of food waste in school environments within the framework of the Network. For this year, the Consolidation of Food Programs project, which promotes the Network, will carry out another six virtual events on topics already identified and that are relevant for school feeding programs in Latin America and the Caribbean
