“It’s important to link the procurement with some of the teaching, and that’s why I brought the potato to one of the conferences. It was just to show that often you forget what it is that we’re talking about: it’s just served on the plate, you eat it and it’s delicious, but you also need to know where it comes from. you have to know the farmer and you have to know how it’s grown, how it’s handled, how it’s transported and also how it’s handled in the kitchen".

The quote above comes from Betina Bergman Madsen, chief procurement officer for the Municpality of Copenhagen. She was interviewed for the Power of Public Plate, a podcast series developed by ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability and the UN One Planet Network, featuring nine episodes of interviews with public authorities from around the world about how to leverage public procurement to positively impact the food value chain, to ultimately contribute to sustainable food systems.

In the interview, Betina talks about how the Copenhagen public food procurement model is so successful thanks to many interconnected factors such as having political support, a constant market dialogue and collaboration with kitchen staff as well as teachers. The conversiation with Betina further highlights how sustainable food procurement can contribute to all of the SDG's and is a testimony to the game changing potential procurers hold within their reach.

Betina is a specialist in the procurement of sustainable and organic food for the municipality’s 900 kitchens. She has been fundamental in the city’s journey to achieving its target of 100% organic food in public meals. But her work does not stop there: Betina is constantly striving to leverage procurement to improve the entire food value chain.

You can listen to the podcast on Spotify, Google Podcast, Apple Podcast and One Planet Network YouTube or ICLEI YouTube.

For any queries contact: Josefine Hintz - procurement@iclei.org