Sustainable public food procurement in Brazilian schools. An obligation under and beyond the National School Feeding Programme (Programa Nacional de Alimentação Escolar – PNAE)

This chapter shows how Brazil’s institutional food procurement programmes stand as strategic and comprehensive public policies for combating hunger and poverty and promoting rural and sustainable development. Specifically, it delves into the legal framework governing public food procurement for Brazil’s National School Feeding Programme (PNAE). While the PNAE is funded by the national government, its management is decentralised to the level of individual municipalities or even schools. School menus are developed by professional nutritionists based on nutritional requirements, use of raw or minimally processed foods, and respecting seasonality and local food culture. The law provides for a set-aside mechanism and a special procedure aimed at encouraging the purchasing of food from family farmers, with preference also for organic or agroecological food. By including a wide range of sustainability requirements connected to which food to purchase, from whom to source it and how to purchase it, the PNAE represents an interesting case study for examining how the legal framework may support the strategic use of public food procurement to advance multiple