The Alameda County Good Food Purchasing Policy

On January 26, 2021, the Alameda County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a resolution, championed by Supervisor Wilma Chan, to assess current food purchases made by County agencies against the Good Food Purchasing standards to support our Circular Food Economy’s healthy, local, sustainable and fair food supply chain.

Working with the Center for Good Food Purchasing, Alameda County’s Good Food Purchasing Policy (GFPP) will align with the Good Food Purchasing Program standards, which are based on five core values:

• Local economies: Support small and mid-sized agricultural and food processing operations within the local area or region.
• Nutrition: Promote health and well-being by offering generous portions of vegetables, fruit, whole grains and minimally processed foods, while eliminating artificial additives and reducing salt, added sugars, saturated fats and red meat consumption. Improve equity, affordability, accessibility and consumption of high-quality, culturally relevant food in all communities.
• Valued workforce: Provide safe and healthy working conditions and fair compensation for all food chain workers and producers, from production to consumption.
• Environmental sustainability: Source from producers that employ sustainable production systems that reduce or eliminate synthetic pesticides and fertilizers; avoid the use of hormones, routine antibiotics and genetic engineering; conserve soil and water; protect and enhance wildlife habitats and biodiversity; reduce on-farm energy and water consumption, food waste and greenhouse gas emissions; and increase menu options that have lower carbon and water footprints.
• Animal welfare: Provide healthy and humane care for farm animals.

Although our GFPP will work primarily with the Sheriff’s Office and Probation Department to shift the millions of dollars they spend on food annually to support our local food system, our resolution also calls on smaller departments that purchase food to participate in the Good Food Purchasing Pledge. While they will not participate in the full baseline assessment, these departments will implement at least one Good Food Purchasing best practice in each of the five value categories every year. Best practices include changes like offering plant-based options at all meals, purchasing directly from at least one small-scale farm within 250 miles or providing free tap water instead of serving bottled water.

You’ll find regular updates about our GFPP progress on our blog.