The Ministry of Agriculture has developed major directions of activities to improve school catering, which must be implemented to improve feeding of school children, ensuring that students are daily receiving more nutritious and wholesome food, produced by local farmers and food processors.
Armands Krauze, the Minister for Agriculture: “We have reached an agreement with the bodies directly involved in school catering system – the Ministries of Health, Education and Science and the Environmental Protection and Regional Development, on steps to be made to improve catering at schools in Latvia. Now, together with all the involved parties – educational establishments, self-governments, caterers, farmers’ organizations, nutritionists, dietitians and others we will work on concrete tasks, which can already be accomplished in the near future to improve food, served to our children and youth at schools. This will not only set a better pattern of healthier food for young people but also provide more opportunities for local farmers and food producers.”
The program envisages to support all the parties, involved in school catering, to organize feeding of school children more efficiently, improving cooperation all over the food supply chain particularly with farmers, food enterprises, caterers and organizations representing parents. One of the major aims is increasing supplies of local origin foodstuffs to school kitchens, choosing seasonal products as well as reducing losses of food and amount of waste.
It has already been announced that in October 2023, Latvia joined the School Catering Coalition, and this will enable us to acquire experience of other countries on setting up of a wholesome and nutritious school catering program and its practical implementation. These directions of activities as the document of Latvia’s commitments, today will also be submitted to the Secretariat of the School Catering Coalition. The Coalition will be one of the possibilities to share experience with other countries on concrete actions, improving school catering.