This report, by Prof. Mariana Mazzucato & Sarah Doyle and colleagues at the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose, explores how school meals can serve as a lever for industrial strategy and food system transformation. It argues that public procurement of school meals can catalyse innovation and investment across the food value chain, shaping markets to deliver food that is healthy, sustainable and accessible.
Drawing on case studies from Brazil, Sweden and Scotland, the report highlights the social, ecological and economic benefits of school meals and their potential to drive structural change when designed as part of a mission-oriented industrial strategy. It calls on governments to reframe school meals as an investment in growth and development, not a cost, and to align procurement and financing tools accordingly.