I would like to enroll my child in the canteen and extracurricular activities

Since 2023, pricing for canteen meals has changed. Now fairer, equitable and progressive, it is based on the CAF family quotient and can therefore be adapted to families' situations in real time.

2/3 of families, in particular the most modest, have thus seen the meal rate drop with this new pricing. What's more, a €0.50 rate has been available since 2020 for families in very precarious circumstances.

The school catering rate includes the meal and the remuneration of all staff working during lunchtime. The cost to the local authority is €12, but families are charged between €0.50 and €6.55, depending on their family income.

You can choose from among the 4 meal options offered by the town:

• flexitarian
• pork-free,
• meat-free
• vegetarian.

The choice is made when registering for extracurricular time and throughout the year from the following school term for any changes during the year.

Speak to the school principal to set up a Protocole d'Accueil Individualisé (PAI). Your child must bring his or her own lunch. A personalized fee corresponding to the service will be applied: between €1.35 and €1.50 depending on the family quotient and €0.50 for families in very precarious situations.

Each day, nearly 16,500 meals are served in the city's school canteens: 13,500 are prepared at the central kitchen and 3,000 by an external service provider: SHCB.

Built in 1982 to prepare 9,000 meals a day, the central kitchen cannot handle all the meals required in our schools today. Due to Montpellier's attractiveness and population growth, this number is constantly increasing. The city was therefore obliged to call on a local external service provider based near Béziers. For practical reasons of delivery, the schools were selected according to their proximity to the freeway.

The City ensures the quality of meals for all pupils. The same menus are served in all schools, and the service provider obtains its supplies through numerous joint contracts with the City's central kitchen. Introduced in 2016 and renewed in 2021 in compliance with the Egalim law, the service contract expires in 2025. Listening carefully, the City is currently studying a draft of new specifications to further increase quality requirements and standardize the service with the central kitchen for the start of the 2025 school year.

As early as 2020, the City launched the city of food project, which notably plans to have a new central kitchen by 2028 capable of supplying all the City's schools. Work will start in autumn 2025.

You can modify your registrations up to 10 days in advance on the family portal presto.montpellier.fr or at the Prest'O counter at City Hall. After this deadline, payment for services is due and a penalty may apply.

After 3 unjustified absences per child per year, the meal will be billed and increased by 1.50€.

Food waste represents 500 kg of food (i.e. 1,085 meals) that are produced unnecessarily every day for Montpellier's public school canteens.

The 10-day deadline enables the central kitchen to adjust the quantities delivered to school canteens as best as possible.

Any requests for late additions or cancellations will be exceptionally accepted in certain situations (e.g.: arrival during the year, APC enrolment during the period, change of arrangements for children with disabilities, hospitalization, change of family or professional situation, etc.), and subject to transmission of supporting documents.), and subject to the transmission of supporting documents to the Prest'O service.

At the school restaurant, your child will be able to have lunch, but will be served a vegetarian menu and the meal will be increased by 2€, unless you can justify one of the exceptional situations accepted.

Attendance is mandatory at the school restaurant to avoid food waste. In the event of absence, the meal is due unless the absence is justified (e.g. strike, school outing, death, illness, etc.) in accordance with the regulations (variable reason, justification and deadline).

After 3 unjustified absences per child per year, the meal will be billed and increased by €1.50.

Submitting your request

• 1. Check the validity of your request, the proof required and the deadline. Payment: presto.montpellier.fr
• 2. Send the application and supporting documents:
  • By e-mail: presto@montpellier.fr
  • By post or to the Prest'O counter: Hôtel de Ville - Service Prest'O 1, place Georges Frêche, 34267 Montpellier cedex 2

Meals are prepared by the production team under the supervision of the dietary team from the city's Food Policy Department. The city the nutritional recommendations in force* du by guaranteeing grammages adapted to our guests for each meal, whether it comprises 4 or 5 components.

Specific grammages are thus proposed for Nursery schools (Petite Section to Grande Section), for Elementary schools (CP to CM2) and for adults (who have greater needs than children).

Every day, when we pack our dishes, we weigh all the trays to check that their weight is in line with the age group concerned (Nursery school/Elementary school). Specific "adult" trays are also produced (with a heavier weight) and delivered to the School Restaurants according to the number of adult meals transmitted.

*issued by the GEMRCN (Groupement d'Etude des Marchés en Restauration Collective et de Nutrition)

Meals are prepared by the production team under the supervision of the dietary team from the city's Food Policy Department. We comply with current nutritional recommendations*, guaranteeing grammages suited to children. The number of meals delivered corresponds to the number of meals ordered. The number is adjusted that morning according to the number of children who have signed in at the Prest'O terminals. Children therefore do not normally need to refill.

However, if the children have not been served the entire tray, the remaining quantity is offered to those who would like a refill.

*issued by the GEMRCN (Groupement d'Etude des Marchés en Restauration Collective et de Nutrition)

For organizational reasons, menus are drawn up 6 to 8 weeks in advance of service. The choice of local supply in short circuits sometimes leads to shortages of certain products. The town may therefore need to modify the menus. The city recognizes the impact of these changes. This is why it strives to limit them as much as possible by replacing non-delivered foodstuffs with equivalent ones.

Menu changes are communicated to the technical managers of each school restaurant every Friday for the following week. When dishes are replaced during the course of the week (delivery problem, product arrived damaged), the managers are informed by e-mail on the same day or the day before the meal concerned.

Soy is a legume that contains vegetable proteins of excellent nutritional quality. In fact, unlike other pulses, all the essential amino acids are present in soy. These amino acids are very important because the body cannot synthesize them on its own, and they must be supplied by the diet. Soy is therefore a good alternative for a more plant-based diet.

However, soy is particularly rich in isoflavones, substances strongly suspected of being endocrine disruptors. As such, it seems prudent to avoid isoflavone accumulation and therefore not to consume more than one portion of soy-based product per day.

This is why we take care to limit soy-based products and serve them punctually as part of the alternative meals that are offered to all children twice a month, as well as in the meat-free menus (where we offer soy no more than once a week).

The recommendations that advise against soy-based products concern children under 3 years of age (Avis du Haut Conseil de la Santé Publique relatif à la révision des repères alimentaires pour les enfants de 2020 and recommendations from ANSES, agence nationale de sécurité sanitaire de l'alimentation, de l'environnement et du travail) and pregnant women.

Ultra processed foods (AUTs) have an impact on human health. Scientific studies have shown that high consumption is associated with an increased risk of overweight and obesity, cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, cancer, depression, early mortality. They also have a negative impact on the planet. The production processes for the ingredients and additives they contain are highly intensive, polluting and harmful to biodiversity and animals.

This is why, since 2020, the city has implemented a project to reduce ultra-processed foods on the menus of Montpellier's school restaurants. The aim is to reduce additives and denatured ingredients in the products offered in meals.

To achieve this, a dietician works daily on the quality of raw material sourcing and implements actions to increase "home-made" in menus. In addition, the Quality-Dietetics Department analyzes the composition of all products, with the aim of selecting those that contain the fewest additives and/or the least harmful.

AUT: An ultra-processed food is a food from the agri-food industry that has undergone numerous processing operations and is composed of denatured ingredients and additives.

The different elements of a meal (starter, main course, dessert...) are called "components". According to current recommendations, meals can be composed of 5 or 4 components to take into account changing eating habits. For example, the starter is not always necessary, especially for nursery school children. The Food Policy Department ensures that meals are well-balanced with quality products and that the planned portion size is well adapted to the children's needs without leading to wastage.

Some small insects, because of their size, manage to get through the numerous cleaning stages. This is particularly true of organic salads, for which disinfection conditions are less stringent.

While this is not necessarily pleasant, it confirms that few if any pesticides have been used (conventional agriculture).

There is no danger to children if they find an insect on their plate; they can alert an adult present in the school restaurant so that their plate can be replaced.

Salt is not banned. The flagship objective of PNNS 4 (Programme National Nutrition Santé) "to reduce salt consumption by 30% by 2025" (France's commitment to the WHO, World Health Organization) is applied to the general population but also in School Catering. Avoiding over-salting dishes and making salt available on a self-service basis are key priorities to prevent children from becoming accustomed to salt. However, for better consumption of the dish, it is possible, under adult supervision, for a child who wishes to do so to re-salt it. Depending on the child's age, the adult will either re-salt the dish, or the child will re-salt it under the adult's supervision. Pepper, on the other hand, is not provided.

The meals that have been delivered to school restaurants correspond to the number of meals ordered. All trays must be presented to the children. If trays are not consumed (absence of pupils not reported), they cannot be recovered as the cold chain has been broken. The trays are then thrown away and composted at the Amethyst methanization plant.

Remaining individual products that can be kept at room temperature (such as bread, unsliced fruit, certain packaged cookies and other dry products) can be stored at the school and presented to the children at snack time on the day, with organization then managed by the activity leaders or ATSEMs.

On the other hand, trays that have not been delivered to the school canteens are returned via the delivery trucks to the Central Kitchen for distribution to associations for which we have established donation agreements: St Vincent de Paul, Restos du Cœur, Banque Alimentaire.