Vendée secondary schools rely on local fish

18 t
of fish delivered to secondary schools in the Vendée in 2019.

Schoolchildren in the Vendée benefit from the supply of seafood from the neighbouring coast. They eat a fresh product, already processed upstream, then prepared in school restaurants.

The Vendée Departement Council has launched a call for tenders to supply its secondary schools with fresh seafood. Since the beginning of 2019, the supply of the fish batch has been won by Vives eaux and the shellfish batch is provided by Cap Marée Atlantique. Every year, nearly two million meals are served in the school canteens of the public secondary schools in Vendée. In 2019, 17,978 kilos of fish were prepared in secondary school kitchens.

The call for tenders was developed to encourage the use of local products. The supplement comes mainly from Charente-Maritime or La Turballe. “This type of institutional demand is fairly easy to fulfil, as we count on a rhythm of two to three orders per week. In this market, the weight of the portions is standard whereas in the case of supplies for an entire town, we have to adapt the portions to different type of consumers, which range from children to the elderly,” notes Nadège Marrec, Sales Manager at Vives eaux.

Present in Sables-d’Olonne, Saint-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie and Ile d’Yeu, the Vives eaux fish wholesaler offers local species such as hake, sardines, white tuna, whiting... The company has taken advantage of this opportunity to make chefs aware of the constraints of the sector. “We can receive requests from establishments and also offer products in accordance with the negotiated price tag. That’s how we bought Meagre, thanks to the supply from the Charente auctions.” The regular presence of fresh fish on the menu of schoolchildren is likely to educate young people to the taste of seafood. “This is important for us as they are our consumers of tomorrow.”

Jean-Marie LE PROVOST

Traduction : Catherine ROUSSEY