From June 11th to 13th, 2025, the City of Milan hosted a study visit as part of the EUI City-to-City Exchange programme, welcoming municipal representatives from Liège for an exchange focused on the transformation of school meals systems — seen as powerful tools to address food security, promote healthy eating habits, and advance local sustainability goals.
The EUI City-to-City Exchange, supported by the European Urban Initiative (EUI), promotes short-term peer learning exchanges among cities tackling similar challenges in sustainable urban development.
Milan, Liège, and Rennes were paired due to the similar way in which they structure their school meals services. All three cities operate centralised systems, managed directly or through publicly owned in-house companies. This enables coordinated oversight of nutrition standards, food procurement, logistics, and quality control. The three cities also share a strong commitment to incorporating local and seasonal produce in school menus and have all been active in European initiatives on sustainable food systems.
In Milan, participants took a deep dive into the operational backbone of the city’s meals programme. Special attention was given to the entire logistics chain—from menu planning to cooking, storage, and meal delivery—through visits to the Milano Ristorazione’s kitchen centres, the central logistics hub in Buccinasco, and a newly renovated school canteen. These technical sessions were complemented by discussions with local stakeholders, including the Food Policy Department, and educational farmsteads supplying fresh produce.
During the visit, the Deputy Mayor of Liège met with Milan’s Deputy Mayor, Anna Scavuzzo, who highlighted the importance of city-to-city exchanges: “Experiences like this are essential for Milan to learn, innovate, and build an increasingly integrated and resilient urban food system. The City of Milan firmly believes in city cooperation: in 2015, it launched the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact, now signed by over 310 cities worldwide. In October, these cities will gather in Milan for the MUFPP Global Forum and the Milan Pact Awards: we are getting ready to celebrate the Pact’s first ten years and shape the strategy for the decade ahead.”
The visit marked the first step in an ongoing exchange that will continue in the coming months with study visits to Liège and Rennes. These next chapters will allow each city to share their own innovations and challenges, further enriching the co-creation of solutions to build healthier, more resilient, and inclusive school meals systems across Europe.
