BACKGROUND AND INIATIVE
Building relationships for distributing nutrition
As is the case in the developing world, EU countries face challenges related to food and nutrition. According to the World Obesity Atlas 2022, child obesity rates in Spain are among the highest in the OECD. One in three children aged 13 – 14 are overweight. For adults, obesity rates are higher than the OECD average. The consumption of fruits, vegetables and many dairy products among children showed a downward trend from 2012 to 2016 according to the “Spanish strategy for the implementation of the school fruit, vegetables and milk scheme for school years 2017/2018 to 2022/2023”. This incentivised Spain to join the new EU School Scheme in 2017 merging subsidy schemes for milk, fruit, and vegetables consumed in schools into one programme.
The need for food aid has increased following the Covid-19 pandemic and due to increased food prices. EU funds are used to procure food for vulnerable people in Spain and then distributed by Spanish food banks and charities such as the Red Cross. Additional funds are distributed by the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+) to the Spanish Agrarian Guarantee Fund (FEGA). From these funds, Spain has allocated nearly €550 million to finance food and essential goods to the most deprived for a period of six years.
Tetra Pak can provide discounted packaging material for school feeding and other social programmes in Europe in the form of aseptic and Tetra Recart® packaging. Tetra Pak Iberia, with the support of Tetra Pak Food for Development, has made sure customers are aware of the EU funding available for these programmes and the possibility of getting packaging material at a discounted price for such sales. A good collaboration has also been established with the European Food Banks Federation (FEBA). A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed in September 2023 during the FEBA Annual Convention in Madrid.
EU school milk subsidies have been available to EU member states since 1977 and became available for Spain when the country joined the European Union in 1986. However, school milk wasn’t new to the country. Milk has been provided to school children since the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s when the British relief operation “Milk for Spain” was started for the victims of the war. Since 2017, under the EU School Scheme, pupils aged 3 to 18 are eligible, but the main focus in Spain has been on pupils aged 6 to 10. It has been determined that it is at this stage that eating habits form.
In 2022, Tetra Pak customers such as Pascual, Lactia, and others entered the school milk market and secured contracts to supply school milk in different regions in Spain. There is potential to grow the sale of school milk in Spain since the country hasn’t fully utilised the subsidies provided. In the 2021/22 school year, only 64% of available funds for school milk were used.
Food banks do a fantastic job of reducing food waste by rescuing food that would have otherwise been lost or wasted and turning it into food baskets and cooked meals for people in need. Using funds from the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+), food banks in the EU can also procure foods, including milk, juices and other foods in aseptic cartons. Tetra Pak UHT customers have delivered milk and other products to food banks for many years. In 2023 Tetra Pak and its customer Agrotransformados S.A. met the Spanish food banks’ contracted specifications for cooked chickpeas, securing the sale of 2.8 million kilos of chickpeas in more than 5 million Tetra Recart® packages. Tetra Pak dairy customers continue to participate in agreements for supplying milk in Tetra Pak packages to Spanish food banks.
RESULTS
Lower costs and food waste, improved distribution
Long-life milk in aseptic cartons is a common choice for Spanish consumers. For schools, aseptic cartons also offer a practical and safe option for milk distribution. In 2022, schools in Madrid introduced UHT milk in Tetra Prisma® Aseptic packages. In 2023, schools in Catalonia introduced UHT milk in Tetra Brik® Aseptic 1-litre packages.
In 2022, the Spanish Agrarian Guarantee Fund (FEGA) purchased more than 79 million kilos of food including tomato preparations and milk in UHT cartons. The food was distributed to 1.2 million beneficiaries. In 2023, when Tetra Recart® carton packages were introduced for cooked chickpeas, Spanish food banks were able to improve environmental sustainability in their supply chains and also reduce costs so that more foods could be procured. Tetra Recart® packages have a climate impact that is only 25% of that of glass jars and only 20% compared to metal cans. They have a competitive price and require less transport capacity. The staff of the Spanish food banks appreciate the switch from glass to carton as they find the cartons easier to handle and safer to manage.
During a visit to a food bank warehouse in Madrid, organised by FEBA and the Spanish Federation of Food Banks (FESBAL) in connection to the Annual Convention, an employee told Tetra Pak that it was a nice surprise to receive the chickpeas in carton packages as they were used to receiving them in heavy glass jars. Because they had experience handling milk and tomato sauce in carton packages, they knew it would be much easier and safer for the volunteers to manage these products.
“We are very happy to see our customers’ success in supplying food banks in Spain and other countries in Europe, especially the introduction of food packed in Tetra Recart® carton packages. With our packaging solutions, we not only help food banks to reduce their environmental footprint, but at the same time give them solutions that reduce their costs and give them products that are more practical to handle. Food banks also rescue foods that would otherwise go to waste. Reducing food waste is a goal shared with Tetra Pak and we are very happy about the recently signed MoU with the European Food Banks Federation FEBA, which will facilitate even closer collaboration with food banks across Europe.”
–Tetra Pak Iberia Managing Director Ramiro Ortiz.
Helping vulnerable groups in Spain and beyond
In January 2023, the EU Commission fixed the indicative allocations of Union aid to Member States for school fruit and vegetables, and for school milk from 1 August 2023 to 31 July 2029. Specific amounts are approved each year. Spain has access to €6m for school milk and €13.9m for school fruit and vegetables for the school year 2023/2024.
The need for food aid will continue. There is potential to further improve sustainability and reduce costs in the food aid programmes by changing packaging formats for additional food products such as canned vegetables and baby foods.
Tetra Pak aseptic and Tetra Recart® cartons will play an important role in making safe, nutritious foods available to both school children and vulnerable groups, reducing environmental impact and costs for those who implement the programmes. Processors in Spain also supply foodbanks in other countries and have the potential to develop this export further.
OLD WEBPART BELOW
Building relationships for distributing nutrition
As is the case in the developing world, EU countries face challenges related to food and nutrition. According to the World Obesity Atlas 2022, child obesity rates in Spain are among the highest in the OECD. One in three children aged 13 – 14 are overweight. For adults, obesity rates are higher than the OECD average. The consumption of fruits, vegetables and many dairy products among children showed a downward trend from 2012 to 2016 according to the “Spanish strategy for the implementation of the school fruit, vegetables and milk scheme for school years 2017/2018 to 2022/2023”. This incentivised Spain to join the new EU School Scheme in 2017 merging subsidy schemes for milk, fruit, and vegetables consumed in schools into one programme.
The need for food aid has increased following the Covid-19 pandemic and due to increased food prices. EU funds are used to procure food for vulnerable people in Spain and then distributed by Spanish food banks and charities such as the Red Cross. Additional funds are distributed by the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+) to the Spanish Agrarian Guarantee Fund (FEGA). From these funds, Spain has allocated nearly €550 million to finance food and essential goods to the most deprived for a period of six years.
Tetra Pak can provide discounted packaging material for school feeding and other social programmes in Europe in the form of aseptic and Tetra Recart® packaging. Tetra Pak Iberia, with the support of Tetra Pak Food for Development, has made sure customers are aware of the EU funding available for these programmes and the possibility of getting packaging material at a discounted price for such sales. A good collaboration has also been established with the European Food Banks Federation (FEBA). A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed in September 2023 during the FEBA Annual Convention in Madrid.
EU school milk subsidies have been available to EU member states since 1977 and became available for Spain when the country joined the European Union in 1986. However, school milk wasn’t new to the country. Milk has been provided to school children since the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s when the British relief operation “Milk for Spain” was started for the victims of the war. Since 2017, under the EU School Scheme, pupils aged 3 to 18 are eligible, but the main focus in Spain has been on pupils aged 6 to 10. It has been determined that it is at this stage that eating habits form.
In 2022, Tetra Pak customers such as Pascual, Lactia, and others entered the school milk market and secured contracts to supply school milk in different regions in Spain. There is potential to grow the sale of school milk in Spain since the country hasn’t fully utilised the subsidies provided. In the 2021/22 school year, only 64% of available funds for school milk were used.
Food banks do a fantastic job of reducing food waste by rescuing food that would have otherwise been lost or wasted and turning it into food baskets and cooked meals for people in need. Using funds from the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+), food banks in the EU can also procure foods, including milk, juices and other foods in aseptic cartons. Tetra Pak UHT customers have delivered milk and other products to food banks for many years. In 2023 Tetra Pak and its customer Agrotransformados S.A. met the Spanish food banks’ contracted specifications for cooked chickpeas, securing the sale of 2.8 million kilos of chickpeas in more than 5 million Tetra Recart® packages. Tetra Pak dairy customers continue to participate in agreements for supplying milk in Tetra Pak packages to Spanish food banks.
Lower costs and food waste, improved distribution
Long-life milk in aseptic cartons is a common choice for Spanish consumers. For schools, aseptic cartons also offer a practical and safe option for milk distribution. In 2022, schools in Madrid introduced UHT milk in Tetra Prisma® Aseptic packages. In 2023, schools in Catalonia introduced UHT milk in Tetra Brik® Aseptic 1-litre packages.
In 2022, the Spanish Agrarian Guarantee Fund (FEGA) purchased more than 79 million kilos of food including tomato preparations and milk in UHT cartons. The food was distributed to 1.2 million beneficiaries. In 2023, when Tetra Recart® carton packages were introduced for cooked chickpeas, Spanish food banks were able to improve environmental sustainability in their supply chains and also reduce costs so that more foods could be procured. Tetra Recart® packages have a climate impact that is only 25% of that of glass jars and only 20% compared to metal cans. They have a competitive price and require less transport capacity. The staff of the Spanish food banks appreciate the switch from glass to carton as they find the cartons easier to handle and safer to manage.
During a visit to a food bank warehouse in Madrid, organised by FEBA and the Spanish Federation of Food Banks (FESBAL) in connection to the Annual Convention, an employee told Tetra Pak that it was a nice surprise to receive the chickpeas in carton packages as they were used to receiving them in heavy glass jars. Because they had experience handling milk and tomato sauce in carton packages, they knew it would be much easier and safer for the volunteers to manage these products.
“We are very happy to see our customers’ success in supplying food banks in Spain and other countries in Europe, especially the introduction of food packed in Tetra Recart® carton packages. With our packaging solutions, we not only help food banks to reduce their environmental footprint, but at the same time give them solutions that reduce their costs and give them products that are more practical to handle. Food banks also rescue foods that would otherwise go to waste. Reducing food waste is a goal shared with Tetra Pak and we are very happy about the recently signed MoU with the European Food Banks Federation FEBA, which will facilitate even closer collaboration with food banks across Europe.”
–Tetra Pak Iberia Managing Director Ramiro Ortiz.
Helping vulnerable groups in Spain and beyond
In January 2023, the EU Commission fixed the indicative allocations of Union aid to Member States for school fruit and vegetables, and for school milk from 1 August 2023 to 31 July 2029. Specific amounts are approved each year. Spain has access to €6m for school milk and €13.9m for school fruit and vegetables for the school year 2023/2024.
The need for food aid will continue. There is potential to further improve sustainability and reduce costs in the food aid programmes by changing packaging formats for additional food products such as canned vegetables and baby foods.
Tetra Pak aseptic and Tetra Recart® cartons will play an important role in making safe, nutritious foods available to both school children and vulnerable groups, reducing environmental impact and costs for those who implement the programmes. Processors in Spain also supply foodbanks in other countries and have the potential to develop this export further.