FoodServiceEurope has been an active member of the European Board on Agriculture and Food (EBAF) since its set up in January 2025. It was preceded by the Strategic Dialogue on the future of EU agriculture in which FoodServiceEurope also participated since its stablisment in January 2024. 

Chaired by Commissioner for Agriculture and Food, Christophe Hansen, EBAF provides high-level advice to the Commission on strategic policy developments for the Vision for agriculture and food. It also advises the Commission in the preparation of policy initiatives in the fields of the future of agriculture and food and to follow-up on the recommendations of the final report of the Strategic Dialogue on the Future of Agriculture.

FoodServiceEurope and EFFAT (European Federation representing the workers in the Food, Agriculture and Tourism sectors) are social partners for the contract catering industry within the framework of the European sectoral Social Dialogue.

As social partners we aim to design and implement effective annual action plans for the benefit of employers and employees. Areas of cooperation include the training of workers, food hygiene and safety, public procurement and corporate responsibility.

Training: FoodServiceEurope and EFFAT have committed to continuously improve employment practices and training programmes.

Food hygiene and safety: In 2009 FoodServiceEurope and EFFAT launched the European Guide to Good Practice for Food Hygiene in the Contract Catering Sector.The Guide provides guidelines and standards on food hygiene to assist contract caterers to comply with their legal obligations.

In addition, a new online training tool Food Hygiene Training for All was launched by FoodServiceEurope and EFFAT in 2011 to provide a qualification for food handlers in the contract catering sector. Food Hygiene for All addresses the lack of resources available to SMEs, which are often unable to invest in specific in-house food hygiene training, and contributes to the professional development of workers in those small and medium sized contract catering companies.

Public procurement: In 2019, FoodServiceEurope and EFFAT have launched an updated Guide to Choosing Best Value in Contracting Food Services. This Guide updates a prior version adopted in 2005, bringing it up to speed with developments of the EU legal framework. The Guide aims to assist public and private purchasers of contract catering services to identify and to avoid unusually low offers in their tendering procedures and select those that offer the best price/quality ratio for the purchaser and the final consumer.

Corporate responsibility:On 31 January 2007, FoodServiceEurope and EFFAT signed an Agreement on Corporate Social Responsibility in the Contract Catering sector.  This agreement aims to set voluntary minimum standards in a number of areas for integrating CSR, such as continuous training, opportunities and non-discrimination, working conditions and choice of suppliers. The Agreement has recently been updated and a new text was signed during the annual Plenary Meeting of 6 October 2014. With the new Agreement on Corporate Social Responsibility in the Contract Catering sector the social partners have renewed their commitments in this area.

FoodServiceEurope is a member of the EU Platform on Food Losses and Food Waste launched by the European Commission in 2016. This Platform bring together public entities and private actors in the food value chain and it aims to support all actors in defining measures needed to prevent food waste; sharing best practice; and evaluating progress made over time.

FoodServiceEurope is an original member of the Advisory Group which was established by the European Commission in 2004 (former Advisory Group on the Food Chain and Animal and Plant Health). The Advisory Group provides the European Commission with stakeholders’ views on food systems’ sustainability, and related areas such as food and feed safety; food and feed labelling and presentation; public health and human nutrition in relation to food legislation; animal health and welfare; food/feed production and international relations; new technologies- including biotechnology etc.