FOOD Conference: The 30 partners met today at the European Parliament in Brussels

The day-long FOOD Conference offered the opportunity to go beyond theoretical concepts and take practical action.

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

FOOD website