Sixty-four schools have taken part in the “Healthier and more sustainable school dinners’ programme”
15% of school dining-halls in Barcelona take part in the MEMSS, 64 schools in all up to the 2024-2025 academic year.
This year, the MEMSS is looking to extend the network of schools committed to improving school meals and combating food waste and the climate emergency.
What is MEMSS?
This initiative, led by Barcelona City Council and the Barcelona Public Health Agency with the support of the Barcelona Education Consortium, aims to promote a real transformation in school dinners, moving towards school menus that are healthier, fairer, safer and more sustainable. This includes the use of fresh and seasonal local produce, as well as a rethink of waste management, involving families and the educational team in decision-making.
The schools taking part in the programme get advice and training, plus support in including this transformation as a comprehensive education project. Dinner hours become an educational space to transform the food model.
The follow-up conducted over the course of two years at some participating schools shows that the programme gets positive results. For instance, pulses were present in 63% of starters in 2023, compared to 23% in 2021; some 30.77% of schools offer at least 50% organic vegetables, while none did so in 2021, and nearly 77% of schools have a dining-hall commission after taking part in the programme.
Twenty-nine schools took part in the 2023-2024 academic year, seven of them joining that same year. All the schools had four information meetings and seven individual meetings providing support for the project, as well as various personalised training and advice sessions at the schools who requested them.
Want to sign your education community up?
If you wish to register to take part, you need to fill in the specific online form on the website of the Barcelona Public Health Agency.
