Public Sector Food Procurement Supply Chains leading to Schools Meals: The Case of Yorkshire

Utilising public procurement as a way to transform the sustainability of the food system holds great potential, especially when focussing on school meals supplied by local authority catering services. This transformative change can impact young people far into their futures, sparking their interest in this topic and teaching them fundamental and valuable lessons about food, sustainability and health from a young age. To fully harness this opportunity, unpacking and mapping out public food procurement supply chains that lead to school meals is crucial. Learning about the factors that shape and influence this part of the food system, as well as how each of the members of the supply chains influence and interact with each other is key. Learning about the barriers, enablers and contracts that dictate how the system works leads to a deeper understanding that allows for relevant and important solutions to be formed. Our current knowledge of how public food procurement works is limited so this research aimed to address this gap in knowledge.