Public food procurement in Italy at the crossroads of school and territory: exploring a dialogue between the global economy and peripheral and rural realities
Journal title SOCIOLOGIA URBANA E RURALE
Author/s Eleonora Veneri
Online First 8/28/2026 Issue 2026/Online First
Language Italian Pages 21 P. 1-21 File size 155 KB
DOI 10.3280/SUR2026-22198
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This article examines public food procurement in Italy, focusing on school catering as a food policy and territorial development tool. Drawing on the 2024 inquiry by the Italian Anti-Corruption Authority (ANAC), it highlights structural market distortions, high mar-ket concentration, limited competition and the outsourcing of socially relevant services to private operators. The paper reviews the European and national legal frameworks governing public pro-curement, showing that they allow the integration of nutritional, environmental and social criteria, often applied in a fragmented manner. Arguing that procurement outcomes de-pend less on legal instruments than on institutional strategies, a comparison with Brazil’s school feeding system illustrates how binding rules and integrated governance can create institutional markets linked to family farming. In Italy, school catering remains an un-derutilised policy lever.
Keywords: public food procurement, school meal programs, market concentration, local food system, food policy, territory
Eleonora Veneri, Gli appalti pubblici alimentari in Italia al crocevia tra scuola e territorio. Prove di dialogo tra economia globale e realtà periferiche e rurali in "SOCIOLOGIA URBANA E RURALE" Online First/2026, pp 1-21, DOI: 10.3280/SUR2026-22198