Cook County’s Good Food Purchasing Program

USA

Cook County, in the greater Chicago area, adopted the Good Food Purchasing Program as its policy in June 2018, becoming the third and largest municipality in the USA to do so. The Good Food Purchasing Program provides a framework for municipalities to create food procurement policies that align with the core values of sustainable, equitable food systems: local sourcing, nutrition, environmental sustainability, workers’ rights, and animal welfare. Cook County’s implementation of the program includes policies that favor purchasing food from businesses that employ former inmates and people in low- and middle-income areas, and the resolution also increases access to county land for minority farmers. For more information, read about Cook County Resolution #18-1650, and about the frameworks of the Good Food Purchasing Program.