The theme of this triennial Congress, which took place from 11 to 15 September 2011, was “Developing a culture of prevention for a healthy and safe future”.

This year’s Congress saw the largest gathering of health and safety at work experts with some 5,400 participants from more than 140 countries.  During his opening speech, the Prime Minister of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, emphasized that a productive economy required a competent and skilled workforce. He called on the participants to adopt a “protective and preventive” approach.

During the plenary session, the FOOD programme was cited by Hans-Horst Konkolewsky, Secretary General of the ISSA, as an example of the best European practices in terms of prevention of health and safety issues at work.

Throughout the Congress, two posters were displayed by Edenred: one on Childcare Vouchers* solution and the other on the FOOD programme*.

The next World Congress on Safety and Health at Work will be held in Frankfurt, Germany, in August 2014.

To find out more about the FOOD programme: www.food-programme.eu

•  nathalie.renaudin@edenred.com 
•  nolwenn.bertrand@edenred.com
• delphine.chilese@edenred.com

* The Childcare Vouchers PDF
* The FOOD Programme PDF

More than 160 participants attended the conference Balanced Nutrition at Work, The European FOOD project: a successful public-private partnership, held at the European Parliament in Brussels, 31 May 2011. The conference was a showcase for the two-year FOOD (Fighting Obesity through Offer and Demand) pilot project, which ended in April 2011.

The plenary session in the morning hosted more than 160 participants and the afternoon workshops welcomed around 80 people.

The morning round tables enabled to cross the strategies at national scale thanks to the FOOD partners and at European and international scales with the intervention of the WHO, the European Commission and the European Parliament representatives.

In addition, the afternoon workshops let more time to explain the content of the recommendations and the communication strategies country by country. It was also the opportunity to introduce the 7^th country that entered the project last February: Slovakia.

Panelists reported on results from the FOOD project’s methodology and discussed lessons learned from the successful public-private partnership approach. Moderator Martin Caraher pointed out that long-term change regarding balanced nutrition could take 15 to 20 years, but the FOOD project proves much can be accomplished in the short term.

The discussion between the speakers led to encouraging remarks, such as Ms. Spanou‘s conclusion: “We are trying to spread good practices geographically. It’s excellent to see projects among six member states” (…) “The FOOD project can offer opportunities to the member states”

The FOOD project partners are pursuing their efforts for at least another three years even though the pilot has ended. “The project is becoming a programme and is open to new partners and new Member States,” explained Nolwenn Bertrand, Co-coordinator, Edenred. “We can still improve the programme and we can work with different kinds of partners.”

 The objectives of the FOOD consortium include:

• Disseminating the results and communication initiatives in the six pilot countries;

• Introducing the FOOD programme to other countries;

• Continuing to exchange best practices within the consortium; and

• Ensuring an evaluation of the initiatives, commitments and tools used by the target groups.

The methodology developed and the deliverables are expected to attract new partners from other countries. Edenred continues to coordinate the programme and is actively encouraging new partners to join the consortium.

• Download the minutes of the Conference
• Discover the FOOD  video

Under the high patronage of the Hungarian Presidency of the European Union, the FOOD (Fighting Obesity through Offer and Demand) conference is taking place at the European Parliament in Brussels. The main results of the project will be presented at this conference, which will mark the beginning of a new implementation phase in other member countries.

Experts from all over Europe will join 30 partners from the public and private sector in order to share their experience and to contribute to the next phases of this programme.

The conference programme:

A plenary conference from 10 am to 1 pm consisting of two round tables

• A first round table on 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 presenting the results of the FOOD (Fighting Obesity through Offer and Demand) project: a successful Public-Private Partnership, headed by Professor Martin Caraher from City University in London

Following this plenary conference, there will be the opportunity to taste national specialities from the six FOOD countries created by EuroToques and Chef Jiří Král.

Practical workshops from 2.30 pm to 4.30 pm

• 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 is being 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

• The FOOD website
• For more information on the conference, go to: www.foodconference2011.eu

The FOOD (Fighting Obesity through Offer and Demand) will be held under the high patronage of the Hungarian Presidency of the European Union on 31st May 2011 at the European Parliament in Brussels. The main results of the project will be presented at this conference which will mark the beginning of a new implementation phase in other member countries.

Experts from all over Europe will join 25 partners from the public and private sector in order to share their experience and to contribute to the next phases of this programme. The conference will also provide the opportunity to sensitize new partners with the aim of fine-tuning the tools and the recommendations and to further develop the FOOD programme within the 6 countries in which the pilot has been undertaken – and beyond their borders.

Agenda of the Food Conference on 31st May 2011 at the European Parliament:

• From 10 am to 1 pm: Plenary conference consisting of two round-tables
• 2.30 pm to 4.30 pm: Workshops

The conference is aimed at scientists, political decision-makers, national and local government representatives, and health professionals, but also at HR managers, sustainable development leaders and at anyone interested in balanced eating.

For more information on the conference, go to: www.foodconference2011.eu

Last December 8^th and 9^th, the High Level Conference on Monitoring and Evaluation of EU and Member States’ strategies on nutrition, physical activity, overweight and obesity related health issues took place and was jointly organised by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Health and Consumers and the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union.

Edenred, as Coordinator of the FOOD project, was invited to present the main findings of the recent surveys that have been done in the 6 countries during a session that was dealing with “ Challenges and opportunities for food offer” and that focused on sustainable public intervention especially to raise awareness and inform restaurants.

More than 300 people attended the conference, especially the European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Policy, Mr. John Dalli,  as well as Health Ministries Representatives from every European country, and members of the European Parliament. The Commissioner recalled that : “Our ambition is to tackle this crucial health issue with all the instruments at our disposal, by promoting healthier diets, more physical activity and better food information to consumers”. The strategy for Europe on nutrition, overweight and obesity related health issues was also presented during that conference. Edenred, through the FOOD programme and its participation to the Commission’s working groups is committed to work closely with all the stakeholders on such issues.

More than 400 participants from companies, European institutions, national governments, non-governmental organizations, academia and other stakeholders from Europe and worldwide gathered in order to:

• Learn more about European and international perspectives on CSR
• Explore and exchange on innovative business initiatives addressing socio-economic challenges
• Engage in new collaborative ventures developed in joint leadership by companies and stakeholders

This event was a great opportunity to present the FOOD programme to the 70 corporate members and 27 national partner organizations of CSR Europe.

FOOD has been selected as one of the best initiatives in the Health and Wellbeing category, and addressed the questions of healthy eating habits and  healthier lifestyles in the workplace.

• http://www.food-programme.eu/

Test your culinary talents and prepare a FOOD recipe in just a few clicks.

Discover balanced recipes prepared by chefs from the 6 participating countries and share your results with your friends.

Don’t wait any longer, play now!

• game.food-programme.eu
• www.food-programme.eu

During the Congress, relevant academic, scientific and institutional figures from different countries will discuss the nutritional, cultural and anthropological aspects of the Mediterranean Diet, a millennium-old heritage shared by the populations of the Mediterranean basin.

The Grand Covian Award is granted to a figure of the scientific world and the Diplomas of Honor in recognition of a figure of another field’s career who have contributed to the dissemination of the Mediterranean Diet.

The President of the VIIIth Barcelona International Congress on the Mediterranean Diet is Igor de Garine, an eminent Director of Research at the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) in Paris and President of the International Commission on Anthropology of Food (ICAF).

• http://congresodietamediterranea.info

There is no strong project without a strong evaluation.

In effect, an evaluation plan forces the partners to concentrate on impact indictors and to follow a strict methodology. The purpose is to obtain good results as well as a solid process quality.

It has been proved that general meetings are often more efficient when it comes to a general concern. This is why the coordinator has decided to invite all associated partners to take part in the 2nd Steering Committee meeting in Madrid which agenda focused on the evaluation plan.
A first plan was submitted in Paris in July but this meeting has been the opportunity to discuss concrete actions and to go deeply into the details of implementation and responsibilities.
The evaluator took notes about the constraints of time and budget in order to find solutions which would not hamper the quality of the actions.

After long debates, a clear structure has been identified which will lead the Work package leaders and all partners’ work.

After a one month tour, it is high time to assess the success of the operation.
“This Road Show was the achievement of ten months of intensive work for the Head Office and each country involved and it set its official launch,” says Nathalie Renaudin, Vice President for Institutional Relations and in charge of the FOOD programme.

It is thanks to the deep involvement of the national teams that this event was a real success.

“Everybody was personally involved and we saw different evolutions of the Road Show according to the different cultures encountered during the tour. The long line outside of the bus in Spain was truly memorable: it was incredible to see so many people waiting to participate in the bus activities and it showed the real interest of the public. Conferences on balanced nutrition in Belgium and Italy also gathered many visitors. The vegetable garden set out in Paris was marvellous. In addition, in Czech Republic, the shows organized by actors as well as the activities dealing with high cholesterol were really successful. On the French and Swedish side, chefs used a very original approach to address balanced food. Indeed, they performed cooking demonstrations and managed to show that taste and pleasure could be combined with balance. Finally, in four of the six countries, there was a 10-kg jacket that visitors could put on to realize the impact of excess weight on the body” tells Nathalie.

Campaigns targeting employees and restaurants were launched after this fruitful European tour and each country is now finalising its own tools, better adapted to their local targets.

In a nutshell, this is only the beginning of FOOD, many more beautiful actions are to take place in the six countries.

Paris, October 6th 2009

Brussels, October 7th & 8th

Stockholm, October 10th

Prague, October 16th

Milan, October 21st

Madrid, October 27th