Call for projects "Food in detention facing ecological requirements" - Directorate of Penitentiary Administration - deadline for application 14 04 2023 at 23:59
(Calenda announcement 1045221)
1 General framework of the scheme
Within the framework of the ecological transition, this call for projects, led by the Research and Innovation Laboratory of the Prison Administration Directorate, is about food in detention.
It wishes to take advantage of the normative developments underway on food issues to reflect on the organizational model of collective catering in detention.
The financing of this project should not exceed 39 999 € including taxes for the realization of a research of 12 to 18 months.
2 Definitions and axes of analysis
Based on the criteria set by the law, we define the notion of ecological requirement in the following four areas
Food waste
Food waste is one of the central elements on which the different levers of action should have an impact. In addition to the ecological cost, the large amount of waste that must be managed by establishments represents a very significant human, financial and time cost. The EGAlim law requires that a diagnosis be made and an anti-waste approach be implemented. However, the numerous studies and recommendations on food waste in collective catering remain sometimes difficult to apply with regard to the specificity of the catering in detention.
Product quality
The quality of the products is a second strong axis of the ecological requirements for food in detention. The EGAlim and Climate and Resilience laws stipulate that from 2022 onwards, public catering must provide at least 50% of quality and sustainable products, of which at least 20% must be organic or in conversion. For the public sector, 100% of meat and fish must also be of quality and sustainable by 2024.
Several aspects will have to be studied in depth:
The issue of short circuits must be explored via a study of public markets. For example, today only bread can be purchased in short circuits. The extension of this exception to the purchase of fruit, vegetables or cheese from local producers is a hypothesis that could be considered in order to offer fresh food to detainees with a reduced carbon impact, while respecting the strong budgetary constraints.
In a similar vein, it would be interesting to study the integration of food from internal production (vegetable gardens, etc.) into the food production circuits of the institutions.
Diversification of protein sources
The diversification of protein sources completes the previous objective: in order for the products to be of good quality and sustainable, the introduction of vegetable proteins appears particularly interesting. However, this introduction cannot be done by simply replacing animal steak with vegetable steak; it must be done by thinking about the means of diversifying the different sources of proteins with regard to the constraints, notably budgetary, imposed by the detention.
Obligation to inform users
The new regulation also requires users to be informed about the origin of products and the share of products from regional food projects. This information, coupled with an improvement in the quality of raw materials, could make it possible to address the issue of the quality of food in detention. It can also be an opportunity to set up awareness-raising actions.
These axes must be thought out while guaranteeing the economic sustainability of the model, particularly with regard to the quality of products and the diversification of protein sources.
In this perspective, the Research and Innovation Laboratory is looking for a scientific team for the year 2023 to investigate these different themes, mainly in publicly managed establishments, in order to respond to ecological issues, and in particular to the normative issues of sustainable development.
3 Application deadline: 14 04 2023 at 23:59
