21,000 children to get organic food in Zagreb

Around 21,000 children in Zagreb will have access to organic food through the city’s expanded school and kindergarten programme during the 2026/27 school year.

The City of Zagreb has extended its existing “Organic Food in Schools” project to include municipal kindergartens.

The programme now covers 32 schools with around 16,000 pupils, together with nine city kindergartens attended by approximately 5,000 children.

A total of 49 different organic products are included in the programme.

They include fresh fruit and vegetables, eggs, honey, olive oil, bread, fruit spreads and grain products.

More than 90% of the food included in the programme comes from Croatian producers, according to the City of Zagreb.

The project began with the delivery of organic apples to schools in late 2024 and has subsequently expanded to include a wider range of products.

The city says the programme has several objectives, including providing children with food of known origin, encouraging healthier eating habits and creating an additional market for domestic organic producers.

Environmental considerations are also part of the programme, with the city highlighting the shorter distance between producers and schools and kindergartens.

Funding for organic food procurement between 2024 and 2026 amounts to €1.2 million, while a further €2 million has been planned for the 2027–2029 period.

Zagreb says it was the first Croatian city to systematically introduce organic food into schools through public procurement.

The latest expansion means the initiative now reaches both school-age children and younger children attending city kindergartens.

(Photo: Grad Zagreb)

The city has indicated that it intends to continue expanding the programme in the coming years, potentially allowing more schools, kindergartens and producers to participate.

The programme is also part of a wider European focus on sustainable food production and public-sector food procurement.

For Croatian producers, inclusion in public food programmes can provide a more stable route to market, while for families the initiative means organic products are being incorporated directly into institutional meals.

The latest figures make Zagreb’s programme one of the more substantial municipal organic-food initiatives in Croatia in terms of the number of children covered.