SUSTAINABLE SHOPPING

Focus on local suppliers and Czech food

As early as May of 2015, we were involved, as the first university, in a project of Anete, supported by the Ministry of Agriculture called f-regions®. The aim of the f-regions® project was to open the mass catering market to regional producers (especially primary producers and primary growers) and their products. The project was not-for-profit and provided participants with organizational, marketing, and technical support to achieve the goal of the project - to offer end-eaters meals cooked from best food from their region. But this project had a lot of challenges. The biggest problem was arranging the logistics of delivering goods in the necessary quantity and short time from the primary producers to the storerooms of our canteens. For the most part, small regional producers are not able to transport their goods to the kitchen according to the customer's needs. Eventually, big food distributors, such as Bidfood, Bikos, Exver, etc., got involved and started buying food from regional producers and distributing it to end customers. Most of the food that pass through our storerooms today come from the Czech Republic.

Sustainable public procurement considering locality, seasonality and other environmental aspects should be given priority over exclusive pricing. Preference for the environmental aspect of choosing a supplier may mean a higher purchase price for the food, but it turns out that focusing on local suppliers is also economically preferable in some cases.

Our permanent suppliers include, for example:

• Jatka Ivančice, s.r.o. is a Czech company that specializes in slaughtering and production exclusively from Czech breeding (www.jatkaivancice.cz/)
• Makovec a.s. is a Czech company that offers Czech meat and sausages from its own slaughter and production, it holds the EKO-KOM certificate (makovec.cz/)
• Kroutil, s.r.o. is a Czech company dealing with the delivery of Czech eggs from Czech poultry farms (www.vejce-brno.cz/category/nabidka-vajec/)
• Mlékárna Olešnice, a. s. is a producer of butter, white and flavored cheeses and cottage cheese exclusively from Czech milk. The Olešnice dairy merged with other Czech dairies under the Bohemilk Opočno brand, thus expanding the range of dairy products and milk itself, as a sales product.
• BSHB, s.r.o. is a company growing and producing potatoes and scratched potatoes from the Highlands (www.skrabane-brambory.cz/)
• Dunaj-Ostrava CZ s.r.o. is a Czech company engaged in the sale and processing of potatoes and vegetables (www.dunajostrava.cz/)
• Exrudo Bečice, s.r.o. is a medium-sized Czech manufacturer of mainly organic and gluten-free products (www.extrudo.cz/en/)

Due to the size of the SKM operation, we are using larger suppliers such as:

• MAKRO Cash & Carry CR s.r.o. supports almost 200 small farmers and producers in the Czech Republic across all food categories in the Local Supplier project. In Makro, you won't find any single-use plastic bags, only bags made from recycled materials. They pack fresh fish in kraft paper, which has a smaller impact on the environment. Makro has replaced disposable bags with textile ones made of organic cotton. Further steps in sustainability towards a better future for Makro can be found on their website (makro.cz/udrzitelnost)
• Bidfood Czech Republic s.r.o. is one of the few MSC certificate and ASC certificate holders in the Czech Republic. It also holds the GlobalG.A.P. certification. You can find more information about the range at Bidfood ryby or on their website (en.bidfood.cz/). Bidfood saves emissions and energy too, thanks to packaging recycling.
• Bovys s.r.o. is a company that deals with the wholesale purchase, import and sale of fresh fruits, vegetables, dried fruits and nuts. They import fruit and vegetables from European countries, but also buy from large and small domestic growers. They are moving towards carbon neutrality thanks to the installation of a photovoltaic power plant with storage on their premises (www.bovys.cz)