France Relance: support continues for healthy and sustainable food in school canteens in small towns

Launched in February 2021, the France Relance plan's support measure for school canteens in small communities has already helped more than 1,700 communities, benefiting more than 550,000 students throughout France. It supports projects that promote access to healthy and sustainable food in school canteens. In order to continue this dynamic, Marc Fesneau, Minister of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty, has announced the extension of this program until October 31, 2022.

School canteens are an essential place to learn about food for young people. Many of them wish to engage in sustainable projects for their users, in line with the objectives of the EGalim, Climate and Resilience laws and the National Nutrition and Health Program (PNNS). For example, they want to give priority to the supply of quality and sustainable products, reduce food waste, optimize their purchases and supplies, eliminate plastic containers to move towards a circular economy...

School canteens are therefore in the front line of these transitions, with strong budgetary constraints, especially for smaller municipalities. In order to support them, the France Relance plan is deploying unprecedented support to meet the initial costs and investments. Since its launch in February 2021, more than 1,700 French communes have received support (i.e., nearly 15% of eligible communes) and, with them, more than 550,000 students.

In order to prolong this dynamic in favor of local authorities, Marc Fesneau, Minister of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty, announces the extension of the scheme for another four months, until October 31, 2022.

For Marc Fesneau, Minister of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty: "Enabling every student to benefit from quality meals in the canteen is absolutely essential and relies on the ability of managers to develop sustainable projects in their schools. To enable them to deploy these initiatives, we are fully committed at their side, especially for the smallest municipalities. In this period of inflation, it is essential that the State continues its support, particularly through the aid of the France Relance plan, which is why we are extending it by four months."

As a reminder, the plan allows for the financing of

• the purchase of equipment and materials needed for cooking, processing fresh produce (peeler, spinner, vegetable cutting machine, preparation robot, etc.)vegetables, preparation robot...), or for conservation (refrigerated cabinet, sorting table, salad bar, raw vegetables and fruit salad bar...);
• intangible investments (software, electronic communication media, etc.)
• intellectual services (audits, studies, training of kitchen staff, etc.).
  

11,000 French municipalities are eligible for this program, including

• Municipalities receiving the target fraction of the rural solidarity grant (DSR Cible) in 2020 or 2021;
• Public establishments of inter-municipal cooperation (EPCI) that have acquired the
  competence for school catering for municipalities that are beneficiaries of the DSR Target in 2020 or 2021;
• All municipalities in Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Martinique, Mayotte and Reunion, and their EPCIs.

To benefit from this aid, communes are invited to send an application to the Service and Payment Agency (ASP) in their region, which is responsible for examining applications and financing the projects selected: https://www.asp-public.fr/aides/soutien-de-certaines-cantines-scolaires.

In addition, the government is continuing to implement measures to make school meals more accessible to the poorest students, in particular through the " 1 euro canteen " scheme.

For more information: https://agriculture.gouv.fr/plan-de-soutien-aux-cantines-scolaires-des-petites-communes.

Source: agriculture.gouv.fr