Food Law and Policy Clinic Publishes Report on Local Food Procurement by Massachusetts State Agencies

Via the Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation 

The Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic (FLPC) is pleased to release a report examining local food procurement efforts by Massachusetts state agencies in light of Massachusetts’ local food preference law. The report, Increasing Local Food Procurement by Massachusetts State Agencies, can be downloaded here; the executive summary can be downloaded here.

In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in local food purchasing, and many states have enacted legislation to promote the use of food grown within the state, often with the goals of promoting local economic development and increasing access to fresh, healthy foods. In 2010, Massachusetts amended Chapter 7, Section 23B of its General Laws to require state agencies, as well as state colleges and universities, to prefer foods grown or produced within the state over foods grown or produced outside of the state in their procurement processes. The law requires state agencies to prefer foods grown or produced within Massachusetts so long as they are less than 10% more expensive than comparable out-of-state foods (state colleges and universities are not required to meet this standard; instead, they must make “reasonable efforts” to prefer in-state foods).

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