Fostering sustainable dietary habits through optimized school meals in Sweden – OPTIMAT

The fulfilment of commitments to international agreements that relate to sustainable development requires fundamental changes in food consumption. This project aims to promote healthy and sustainable dietary habits in Sweden through optimized school meals.
Several studies are planned. The first is an analysis of children’s dietary intake in relation to school meal quality. The second is a modelling study where nutritious, affordable and theoretically acceptable food baskets, optimized for low emissions of greenhouse gases, are developed. Menus based on these baskets will be developed and tested for acceptability in schools. Lastly, challenges in the implementation of climate-friendlier school meals will be studied. Currently, the collection of data on dietary habits and school meal quality has been finalised. Preliminary optimisation analyses have also been performed.
This project has the potential to contribute to more sustainable procurement and consumption patterns, a more efficient use of public resources, and to fulfilment of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.