Several partners from the LCA4Regions project were among the 28 ‘students' that joined the 9th summer school of the Forum for Sustainability in Life Cycle Innovation (FSLCI) - presented here. This was a great opportunity for them to deepen the knowledge about LC approaches, join insightful seminars, and exchange points of view. The high expertise and closeness of the panelists coupled to small working groups enabled a smooth discussions, widening participants' view.
This programme, that took into account all stages of the agri-food sector with upstream and downstream actions to reach an optimization in the life chain of food production and consumption, will definitely be an asset in the upcoming work of LCA4Regions with some of its learning that could be transferred to the different regions.
As a final task, participants had to design a sustainable school lunch menu built on the life cycle of the ingredients. What would you chose for your menu? Here are our tips:
Make sure you adapt to the taste and do not offer a menu in radical opposition to the habits of your students - that could result in big food waste! Knowing the love of Navarre region and its citizen for meat, the menu in Navarre would not be vegetarian, despite the beneficial environmental aspects it would bring. However, the meat would come from an extensive production way of cattle that is environmentally and animal well-being friendly, with beneficial impacts on land use.
You might also want to take into consideration ecolabels, seasonal, regional and close by food, and why not try to avoid too much pre-processed food. It makes no doubt that minimising packaging and food waste is mandatory. Why not Include actions to benefit people with less opportunities and create a connected team with all the actors involved to have the conviction that everybody contribute to reach the goal of the initiative.
So, how does your menu look like?
