On December 21, three weeks before submitting her resignation to Emmanuel Macron, Elisabeth Borne signed a circular ordering agents involved in collective catering services to enforce the provisions of the Egalim laws of 2018 and 2021. These had set, for 2022, a target of 50% sustainable and quality products, including 20% organic, in school canteens, high schools, hospitals and even retirement homes in France. Two years later, it is clear that the account is not there. The agricultural crisis had not yet occurred and the problem, so embarrassing, was already well known to the executive. Gabriel Attal announced on Wednesday February 21 the launch of a solutions conference “by April. It will bring together the State and local authorities with the aim of “accelerating in collective catering”. At the Agricultural Show, which begins on Saturday, this highly flammable subject, involving a slew of actors, will inevitably be put back on the table.
The different protagonists are today engaged in a battle of numbers. On the one hand, the government is basing itself on a report sent to Parliament in December which shows a supply rate of 27.5% for quality products and 13% for organic products. However, this data comes from the Ma Cantine platform, on which communities are invited to provide information on their efforts. “Simple, unconstrained declarative. Only good students come forward, causing the statistics to inflate,” scratches a connoisseur of the file. On the other hand, the Organic Agency took the lead by directly questioning organic wholesalers to obtain a finer measurement. As a result, the rate peaks, according to her, at 7% in 2023, after 6% in 2022.
Schools ahead, hospitals behind
Looking more closely, there are large disparities depending on the catering categories on the one hand, and the territories on the other. In education, the municipalities are responsible for primary schools – nursery and elementary -, while the departments take care of middle schools and the regions of high schools. “Municipalities were the first to look at the quality of products and to approach local producers. Mayors are in contact with the field, they are more aware. The movement is more recent in certain departments or regions which have equipped themselves, like Normandy, from a dedicated person”, underlines Christophe Hébert, president of the National Association of Directors of Collective Catering (Agores).
Above all, many actors see whether or not to respect Egalim as a primarily political choice. “Some communities manage to achieve the objectives because they prioritize food in their budget,” says the office of the Minister of Agriculture, Marc Fesneau. In the medico-social sector, cost remains a big downside. “When a patient goes to a public hospital, he pays a daily bill. However, this money does not go to room or board,” recalls Christian Renault, specialist in agricultural and food policies at the AND research firm -International. “In the decision-making chain at the hospital, you have the buyer, the dietician who concocts the menu with the doctor, the catering engineer who ensures hygiene, and the nursing assistants who provide room service. Everyone is perfectly aware that the final quality is not there, due to the initial raw material,” assures LREM MP Frédéric Descrozaille, who gave his name to the Egalim 3 law.
Among the professionals in the collective catering industry, we’re putting our foot down: “We can’t do what we want. We’re responding to specifications set by the communities, from which we can’t deviate,” assures Edouard Albertini, purchasing director of the French subsidiary of Compass Group, world leader in collective catering. According to him, just half of his clients do not apply the thresholds set by French law.
A lack of staff in small communities
Inflation and the energy crisis have only made the situation worse, forcing contractors to lower their ambitions in order to save money. Collective catering always faces the same paradox. “We are looking for the cheapest possible foodstuffs because it is a social service, without an economic model. However, organic has a higher cost than the average. How can we introduce it in an environment where we deliberately draw on price down?, asks consultant Christian Renault. One of the avenues is these large central kitchens which can serve several departments in a cold connection, in order to lower the bill.”
Added to this pitfall is the lack of staff in small communities to follow the legal thresholds, organize the sourcing of products and place orders. The Association of Mayors of France (AMF) has long called for financial support for the least well-endowed municipalities. “Budgets are increasingly tight,” attests Gilles Pérole, deputy mayor of Mouans-Sartoux and co-chair of the AMF school catering working group. “Due to a lack of human resources, certain communities regularly repeat the same calls for tenders, without bringing them into compliance with the Egalim objectives”, we report to Marc Fesneau’s office.
The Public Procurement Code in the viewfinder
The rigidity of the Public Procurement Code also raises questions. “In the definition of sustainable products, for example, we cannot put “Origine France” by name. It is in-depth technical work that we must begin to try to evolve the doctrine,” continues the ministry. of Agriculture. Except that to modify it, you would have to go through the European level. On the ground, loopholes exist. “There are lots of cities or departments in which public buyers bend the Code to legally buy local. But this requires specific legal skills, which may be lacking elsewhere,” maintains Christophe Hébert. In the coming days, the AMF, Regions of France and the Assembly of French Departments will send a letter to Emmanuel Macron to demand that this brake be lifted.
Levers exist
Some believe that, as long as there are no sanctions, Egalim’s objectives will remain a dead letter. “It’s a bit like telling motorists not to exceed 130 on the highway without fining them,” quips Christian Renault, of AND-International. “If the law remains only incentive, it will be very complicated,” adds Laure Verdeau, director of the Bio Agency. On the executive side, the carrot remains preferred to the stick. “We can legitimately show impatience with the failure to achieve these objectives. But we want to prioritize pedagogy and the co-construction of solutions,” say those around Marc Fesneau.
Levers for improvement exist. Such as better management of food waste, which offers more latitude to customers to increase their budget devoted to organic and quality products. “In primary schools, it works well. In middle schools, still more or less. In high schools, it’s more complicated,” tempers Christian Renault. In New Aquitaine, InterBio has created a label, awarded to 170 communities, which promotes those meeting the objectives of the Egalim law. An example of emulation that can be widely transposed elsewhere.
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