The event took place Thursday 13^th October and was organised by European Food Forum Association, which EuroFIR AISBL joined as a Member in June 2022. The event gathered together representatives of civil society and industry as well as EC officials and MEPs who discussed on the topics of traceability, scope of the regulation, and specific controls that will need to be applied by European Union (EU) Member States.

Speakers agreed on the importance of this regulation for building a more transparent food chain and reinforcing traceability of food products imported into the EU. However, they also asked how far the concept of due diligence (i.e., identify, prevent, mitigate, and account for adverse corporate impacts on human rights and the environment) can – for example – be applied to each and every single seed of food products imported in the EU. The importance of cooperation and support for local farmers and producers in origin countries, who are willing to fight against deforestation or forest degradation, was also highlighted for success of the new legislation.

You can find more information about the event here: https://europeanfoodforum.eu/event/21-implementing-the-eu-legislation-on-deforestation-the-way-forward/

This year Kyrgyzstan has released their first national food composition table.

This publication includes 41 foods and basic components, such as water, carbohydrates, fats, proteins, and ash; remaining components included depend on data availability. Data were collected from scientific literature by the Kyrgyz State Technical University and Kyrgyz-Turkish Manas University.

This is result of four-year cooperation of the Slovak Food Composition Dataank (National Agricultural and Food Centre, Food Research Institute, Bratislava) with Kyrgyz universities. More specifically, training, technical support, and guidance provided by the Slovak Food Composition Databank, supported by the Official Development Support Programme in food composition area for Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia, which is financed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of the Slovak Republic.

In developing these tables, particular attention was given to inclusion of data for ethnic foods, such as Koumiss, Chuchuk sausage, and mare or Yak milks as well as wild fruits and berries growing in Kyrgyzstan. Moreover, composition data for 11 traditional Kyrgyz dishes, such as Beshbarmak, Dymdama, Manty, have been calculated based on standardised recipes.

We are more aware of the important role that food plays in protecting their health, making scientifically accurate and objective information more important than ever. A new edition of the Belgian food composition table (7th edition) provides access to the most comprehensive values with new products including vegetarian and sports options.

1544 foods listed

A total of 144 products have been added since the last edition (1400 in 2017 -> 1544 in 2022). Foods are classified by food groups, and nutrient values include those for energy, proteins, carbohydrates, sugars, fats, fatty acids and cholesterol profile, fiber, water, vitamins and minerals.

Nubel has also added recipes with lists of ingredients to give an idea of the compositions of prepared dishes.

In the appendices, there is information about nutritional advice, official recommendations, practical application, information on additives, sweeteners, food supplements, information on weights and measures. The Belgian food composition table is available in French and Dutch.

An additional tool for schools

The food composition table is used in many secondary schools as a support for nutrition lessons. To support teachers, Nubel has developed a pedagogical “escape game” where students solve problems related to nutrition and healthy eating, promoting a healthy relationship with foods rather than dieting. The game takes place in the classroom over a period of 1.5 hours and aimed at years 4-6.

The composition table and game are tools of Nubel ASBL, which has managed the Belgian food composition table since 1990. The association manages scientific nutritional information on the foodstuffs that make up a varied and balanced diets. All information about Nubel, the Belgian food composition table and other tools can be found here.

You can order the table here.

Website: www.nubel.com – www.nubel.be – www.internubel.be

Facebook: www.facebook.com/Nubel.food.FR – www.facebook.com/Nubel.food

Instagram: www.instagram.com/nubel_fr/ –  www.instagram.com/nubel_nl/

The 2021 update of New Zealand food composition database (NZFCD) was released online on 31^st March 2022. This release is particularly significant because it is the first time FoodCASE has been used, replacing a food information management system (FIMS). Plant & Food Research is grateful for modifications made to FoodCASE to meet their needs.

Plant & Food Research and the New Zealand Ministry of Health (MoH) jointly own NZFCD, which is the most comprehensive collection of high-quality nutrient data for more than 2700 foods commonly eaten in Aotearoa New Zealand. NZFCD enables a wide range of users – from government, health and research organisations to the food industry and the public – to understand the composition of the foods New Zealanders are eating.

In this latest release, 380 food records are new or have been updated since the last release in 2019 (e.g., FOODfiles 2018). The new food reflect changing dietary patterns of Kiwis and include gluten-free, spelt and quinoa flours, hemp products (flour, protein powder, seed and seed oil) and kombucha. A number of fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables are also included, such as fruit used in smoothies, baby leaf spinach and kale. In addition, this year’s updates include the new Plant & Food Research-bred purple kūmara (New Zealand sweet potato) ‘Purple Dawn’ and Zespri’s RubyRed™ kiwifruit. Commonly consumed foods, like milk, chicken and eggs, have been updated to reflect changes in their compositions, altered farming and production practices, and improved analytical methods. At the same time, just over 380 foods were archived and are not available in the current version because products have been withdrawn from the market or newer data have been added to NZFCD.

Data are published in three different formats in parallel with an updated manual providing guidance for users:

• New Zealand FOODfiles™ 2021: This provides the complete data set for the NZFCD as a downloadable desk reference with a series of Excel files. Data are presented for 2,763 foods: 85 core components in the Standard Version and up to 360 components in the Unabridged Version.
• Concise New Zealand Food Composition Tables 14th Edition 2021: These tables contain selected data on key nutrients for commonly consumed foods and are ideal for quick reference. They are downloadable in PDF and Microsoft Office Excel file format and contain data for 38 components for 1,281 foods.
• Online search: This search tool you to search by food and find the detailed composition or by nutrient to find the best sources of them. It provides information on percentage daily intake of nutrients and nutrient content claims.

Visit the New Zealand Food Composition Database here

Growing strong in times of crisis – Investing in wellbeing and health equity for young and old

Organised by EuroHealthNet

2022-05-31

At the Académie Royale de Belgique, Brussels

With the participation of Dr Mojca Gabrijelčič Blenkuš, President, EuroHealthNet; Senior Advisor, National Institute of Public Health in Slovenia; Mr Toma Šutić, Member of Cabinet of the Vice-President for Democracy and Demography, European Commission; Prof Silvio Brusaferro, President, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Italy, coordinator of the Joint Action Health Equity Europe (JAHEE); Professor Terje Andreas Eikemo, Leader of the Centre for Global Health Inequalities Research (CHAIN); Ms Jana Hainsworth, Secretary General, Eurochild; Dr Ana Carriazo – Senior Advisor, Andalusian Regional Ministry of Health and Families; Prof Didier Jourdan – Chair holder, UNESCO Chair on Global Health & Education; Ms Vicky Jones – Deputy Leader, Adverse Childhood Experiences Support Hub, Public Health Wales; Ms Gemma Williams, Research fellow, London Hubs Coordinator and Economist, European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies; Ms Susanna Ulinski, Policy Officer, Unit D.2 Social Protection, Directorate-General of Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, European Commission; Dr. Ülla-Karin Nurm, Secretariat Director, Northern Dimension Partnership in Public Health and Social Well-being; Mr Klaus Niederlander, Director, Ambient Assisted Living Association; Ms Tatjana Buzeti, Policy Officer, WHO European Office for Investment for Health and Development ; Ms Caroline Costongs, Director, EuroHealthNet.

EuroHealthNet broke the ice in Brussels and organised the first face-to-face event since pandemic, with more than 60 attendees. Gathering experts from several EU Member States, as well as policymakers and advocates of public health, the excitement at being together in the same room -and not behind a screen- was obvious. The take-aways were clear: NGOs and leading association in public health need to provide guidance as well as to act as watchdogs to prevent ‘health-washing’ (i.e., setting a national action plan but providing no budget). Moreover, policies based on science and proper evaluation of public policies as well as the will to adjust policies as necessary are needed for progress. However, most important, is the urgent need for a healthy environment for children and young people, with restrictions on marketing of nutritionally poor foods in parallel with the eradication of obesogenic environments, and creation of communities focused on active and health development and participation.

You can find the report of the event by EuroHealthNet here

16^th June 2022

FoodDrinkEurope celebrated its 40 years as an industry representative! To celebrate, they organised the #FoodFuture Ideas Fest, an amazing event in the gardens of the Museum of Natural Sciences in Brussels. With more than 25 speakers and 600 attendees, spread throughout three tents, clusters focused on healthy living, sustainable packaging, and zero emissions. The format was clearly TEDTalk-inspired and brought together representatives from the food industry, academia, and policy to explore issues associated with the EU food and drink industry. In the healthy living tent, the need for consumers to achieve balanced diets, move often, resist temptations, eat more plant-based foods, and reduce portion sizes were not surprising but the fact we are still talking about them demonstrates that there is still much work to be done. Claire Bury, Deputy Director-General SANTE publicly thanked FoodDrinkEurope for its contribution to the Code of Conduct for Responsible Food Business and Marketing Practices, which aims to underpin sustainable food systems. The celebration finished with drinks, live music, fancy tapas, barbeque, birthday cupcakes, and customised cocktails, honouring the outgoing Director General, Mella Frewen, who has led the organisation for 30 years and hands over to Dirk Jacobs.

Healthy living tent:

• Nudging consumers for good – Michelle Gibbons, Director General at European Brands Association (AIM)
• Understanding consumer behaviour – Marleen Onwezen, Researcher at Wageningen University
• Healthy vs. tasty: what do consumers really want? – Sebastian Emig, Director General at the European Snacks Association
• The importance of whole grain – Jan Willem van der Kamp, Director Cereal Research at TNO Netherlands and Chair of the Definitions Working Group of the Whole Grain initiative

• Education, planetary diets and the Gen Z take – Júlia Montoliu Boneu, Pharmacist, Nutritionist and FutureFoodMaker at EIT Food
• Food as a Force for Good – Hanneke Faber, President Nutrition at Unilever
• Digital solutions enabling diets good for people and the planet – Annika Hedberg, Head of Sustainable Prosperity for Europe programme at the European Policy Centre
• What’s a healthy city? – Anja Katalin De Cunto, “Food Trails” Project Coordinator and Policy Advisor for food and procurement at Eurocities
• Unsung heroes of food innovations – Jonas Lazaro Mojica, Senior Manager Food Policy, Science and R&D at FoodDrinkEurope

Sustainable packaging tent:

• The path to zero waste – Joan-Marc Simon, Executive Director at Zero Waste
• The EU’s 2030 vision – Maja Desgrees Du Loû, Policy Officer at the European Commission’s DG Environment
• Replacing plastic with…sugar beet? – Judith Schrenk, Communications officer at the European sugar manufacturers organisation CEFS
• Flexible packaging on a mission – Graham Houlder, Project Co-ordinator at Ceflex
• Consumers’ role towards packaging circularity – Jean-Pierre Schweitzer, Senior Policy Officer for Circular Economy and Product Policy at the European Environmental Bureau (EEB)
• Nestle’s sustainable packaging solutions – Christian Detrois, Senior Packaging Expert at Nestlé Europe
• Why deposit return schemes matter – Raymond Gianotten, Director at Statiegeld Nederland
• Circularity of spirits bottles – Ulrich Adam, Director General at spiritsEurope

Zero emissions tent:

• The big food redesign – Gaëlle Le Gélard, Design Manager at the Ellen MacArthur Foundation
• Reducing packaging weight to reduce the carbon footprint – Niels Brouwers, Packaging Development Manager Europe at ABinBev
• What is regenerative agriculture? – Chuck de Liedekerke, CEO at Soil Capital
• How to tell your climate story – Max Fry, BBC series partnerships
• Can Brussels food go green? – Rob Renaerts, Coduco and Brussels Good Food Project
• The tale of two soups – Sam Williams, Business Development Manager at Ricardo
• Food waste: the urgency of peeling the onion – Raschad Al-Khafaji, Brussels Director at the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)
• Dreaming of a carbon-free village – Philippe Birker, co-founder of Climate Farmers

At the European Parliament, Brussels

28-06-2022

Hosted by the Green political group at the European Parliament and organised by the European Public Health Alliance (EPHA).

With the participation of Maria Ripa (MEP – Greens/EFA, DE), Mimi Tatlow-Golder (Senior Lecturer in Developmental Psychology & Childhood at The Open University), Amandine Garde (Professor of Law at the University of Liverpool, and EUPHA-LAW Section President), Alexandra Geese (MEP – Greens/EFA, DE), Milan Brglez (MEP – S&D, SI), Deirdre Clune (MEP – EPP, IE), José Manuel Argilés Marín (Attaché on Consumer Affairs, Spanish Permanent Representation to the EU), Olga Zhiteneva & Kathrin Hetz (WHO European Office for the Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases), and Sarah Wiener (MEP – Greens/EFA, AT). The event was moderated by Tamsin Rose.

You can find the full agenda here

As part of the campaign “Towards a childhood free from unhealth food marketing”, and dissemination of the blueprint Directive for approximation of EU Member State laws on the protection of children from marketing of nutritionally poor food, the European Public Health Alliance gathered together Members of the European Parliament, national representatives, the World Health Organization, and public health lawyers to discuss how children can be protected from marketing of unhealthy food.

Largely, it is accepted that marketing influences humans (certainly showing people food drives consumption) including children. It is common to witness on- and offline sports personalities, influencers, cartoons, and entertainers advertising tasty “not-that-healthy-foods” targeting children. Thus, from a public health perspective, amongst the many possible actions to reduce weight-gain and obesity, regulation of marketing is just one option. The problem, however, was -like many other discussions- not all the parties were present including the food industry and marketing executives; perhaps they were not invited, or maybe they declined. The facts are that children are exposed to large numbers of stimuli daily, they are easy to influence, and susceptible to glossy advertising. Thus, governments as well as the adults in their lives must make choices about what children see to protect their health from the wider obesogenic environment.

2021-12-15: We need your input! Do you use branded food composition databases? Would you use one if they were more available? We would like to know more!

Previously, we have previously asked about your use of branded food composition databases. Following on from discussions at the EuroFIR Food Forum, we are revisiting needs and barriers as well as efforts to collect these datasets, open access publication, and sustainability.

Please help us by completing our online questionnaire here

Feel free to share the link with colleagues, because we would like to hear from them too! If you have any questions or would like more information, contact us:
[email protected]

2021-12-15: Towards a childhood free from unhealthy food marketing

Up to 30% of under 16s are overweight or obese in Spain, Italy, Malta, Poland, Rumania, and Czech Republic, leading to greater focus on unhealthy food marketing targeted at children. Against this background, the European Public Health Alliance gathered experts in their field to explore the influence of food marketing on decisions around food choices…read more

2021-12-15: Consumers come first

Since the European Commission launched the European Green Deal, our food systems have been under greater scrutiny, especially regarding sustainability, affordability, and better understanding by consumers. SAFE organised this conference to analyse these challenges…read more

2021-12-15: Nutriscore: a high-level dialogue between science, citizens & operators.

This event, organised by Eat Europe and Farm Europe  brought together actors from different backgrounds to analyse front-of-package labelling, specifically NutriScore…read more

2021-09-22: Cancer Research Works: Improving Cancer Patient’s Survival Worldwide

To mark World Cancer Research Day (22^nd September 2021), the Steering Committee, under the Presidency of Her Majesty Queen Letizia of Spain, organised an international meeting to discuss the importance of supporting cancer research to accelerate progress against cancer and the transfer of research discoveries to improve cancer survival worldwide…read more

2021-09-17: Workshop on e-Health

The Panel for the Future of Science and Technology (STOA) conduct technology assessment and scientific foresight projects and organises events, the last of which was e-health. Panellists considered the necessity of undertaking digitalization of health within the EU…read more

2021-07-28: Protein calculation workshop 

On Wednesday 7th July 2021, EuroFIR held an online workshop on Protein calculation. The meeting was co-chaired by Paul Finglas (EuroFIR AISBL) and Hettie Schonfeldt (University of Pretoria, ZA)…read more

2021-05-17: WholEUGrain

WholEUGrain is a EU-funded project launched in November 2019 with Beneficiaries from four countries (DK, RO, SI, and Bosnia and Herzegovina). The aim of the project is to facilitate and gain experience of the Danish best practice model for whole grain partnerships in other countries…read more

2021-05-20: Unleashing the power of law to promote better health for all

The value of legal intervention, and its inherent potential in stimulating progressive change for public health, is considerable and laws are expected to contribute to solutions to the most pressing global health challenges..read more

2021-05-26: Discovering FAIR Cookbook

2021-05-26:Best Practices for Effective Allergens Management

2021-02-08: Data needed for nutritionists, dietitians, and gastronomes to address influences of expected climate change

From the Health Sciences Faculty, Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Istanbul Sabahattin Zaim University, Turkey…read more

2021 – 02 -04: European Parliament Interest Group on Allergy and Asthma: recommendations