A lesson in good nutrition: Creating healthy school food environments in Córdoba, Argentina

Published: October 2025

Everyone has an equal right to adequate food, but not everyone has equal access. In many places around the world, cheap, ultra-processed foods often crowd out healthier options. Children are particularly vulnerable to the health effects of poor diets, so it’s vital to ensure good nutrition from the earliest years.

Schools play an essential role in creating an enabling environment for good nutrition. They not only provide access to nutritious foods, but also help set lifelong habits.. However, the school food environment doesn’t always support healthy choices. To change this, strong school nutrition and food procurement policies must promote healthy options and limit children’s exposure to items that are high in salt, sugars and fats, or ultra-processed.

The city of Córdoba, Argentina is showing how this can be achieved. In 2021, Argentina enacted a law establishing national measures to promote healthy diets such as front-of-package warning labeling, regulation of food and beverage advertising, and transforming school environments. As the country’s second-largest city, Córdoba has since been working to apply these regulations in its public schools through an initiative called “Córdoba Elige Agua” (Córdoba Chooses Water). This initiative aims to transform school food environments by promoting water consumption and regulating the supply of ultra-processed foods in school kiosks and canteens.

Read the full case study: A lesson in good nutrition: Creating healthy school food environments in Córdoba, Argentina