The Whole School Food Approach: A European framework and implementation to promote healthy and sustainable school food systems

Childhood malnutrition, including overweight and obesity, continues to be a major public health concern across Europe. Schools offer a unique and influential setting to promote healthy eating, support children’s well-being, and contribute to more equitable and sustainable food systems. 

The Whole School Food Approach was developed within the European-funded SchoolFood4Change project to provide a flexible and scalable framework that supports schools in transforming their food environments. The framework brings together four mutually reinforcing pillars to help schools implement this approach: policy and leadership, food and sustainability, education and learning, community and partnership

The framework proposes three progressive levels of implementation – bronze, silver, and gold – allowing schools to advance at a pace suited to their local context. It is designed to encourage collaboration across sectors, align school food practices with broader sustainability goals, and support long-term institutional change.

This article describes the development of the Whole School Food Approach and examines its implementation across participating schools in 12 European countries. To date, more than 500 schools have engaged with the framework, showing varied levels of adoption. Key challenges included limited staff capacity, time constraints, and the need for stronger cross-sector collaboration, while political commitment and institutional support were identified as important enabling factors.

Overall, the findings indicate that the Whole School Food Approach is perceived as a valuable tool for advancing healthy and sustainable school food systems across diverse European contexts.