Under the high patronage of the Hungarian Presidency of the European Union, the FOOD (Fighting Obesity through Offer and Demand) conference took place today at the European Parliament in Brussels.
The main results of the project were presented at this conference, which marked the beginning of a new implementation phase in other member countries.
Experts from all over Europe joined 30 partners from the public and private sector in order to share their experience and contribute to the next phases of this programme.
The conference programme consisted of two round tables:
- A first round table devoted to the importance of eating a balanced diet during the working day chaired by Christopher Wanjek, author of Food at Work, published by the International Labour Organisation
- A second round table, which presented the results of the FOOD (Fighting Obesity through Offer and Demand) project, which has become a successful Public-Private Partnership, headed by Professor Martin Caraher from City University in London
Following this plenary conference, there was the opportunity to taste national specialities from the six FOOD countries created by EuroToques and Chef Jiří Král, before practical workshops:
- A first workshop for companies looking to develop the FOOD programme
- A second workshop aimed at understanding the programme through discussions with nutritionists
The Conference was attended by high-level participants, including:
- Vice-President of the European Commission, Antonio Tajani
- Despina Spanou, DG SANCO, President of the EU Action Platform on Diet, Physical Activity and Health
- Gábor Baranyai, Hungarian Deputy European Affairs Minister
- European representatives Elisabetta Gardini and Mario Mauro
- Jacques Stern, President and Managing Director of Edenred
- Caroline Bollars, World Health Organisation (WHO), Regional Office for Europe
- Professor Ambroise Martin from Claude Bernard Faculty of Medicine
- Olivier Christiaens from the Federal Public Service for Health, Food Chain Safety and Environment, Belgium
- Juan Ballesteros from the Spanish Food Safety and Nutrition Agency (AESAN)
- Professor Martin Caraher, City University in London
- Professor Agneta Yngve from the Karolinska Institutet