Healthy and sustainable food policy in Flemish schools

Apr 19, 2025Belgium, Farm to Fork, Food Security, Inspiring initiative

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Healthy and sustainable food policy in Flemish schools

The Belgian initiative ‘School Food Labs’ guides pilot schools that go through a two-year process to make the food provided at school more sustainable. This happens under the guidance of GoodFood@School, which is a collaborative project by Rikolto, GoodPlanet and Fairtrade Belgium to help all Flemish schools integrate a healthy and sustainable food policy. Indeed, the outcomes of the initiative will be used to inform and inspire similar ways of promoting sustainable food policy on a larger scale, in schools across Flanders.

The initiative is carried out in eleven different schools, spread over four Flemish cities: Antwerp, Bruges, Ghent and Leuven. The schools carry out a variety of actions to improve food sustainability, provide healthy food, and raise awareness about sustainability in general. This includes the following examples: making the school cafeteria a more attractive place to be, visiting rooftop farms and biological farms, organising ‘fair food festivals’ at school, and other creative ways of influencing children’s food values.

For children, including those with low-income and migration backgrounds
The School Food Labs initiative targets children, primarily between 12 and 18 years old. Some involved schools also have an attached elementary school and/or kindergarten, so the age range is in some cases below 12 too. Some of the involved schools are largely attended by children from a low-income background, often going to school without having had breakfast and/or without bringing any lunch. In some of these schools, the initiative also focuses on classes that are tailored towards recently migrated children who do not speak Dutch.