Agriculture MEPs promote healthy eating

Happy children with healthy food The EU and its member states must invest more effort and money in promoting healthy eating and the consumption of local foodstuffs amongst children, said the agriculture committee said on Tuesday when it amended draft rules on schemes to provide fruit, vegetables and milk in schools. "A healthy and balanced diet is the foundation of good health and yet the consumption of fruit, vegetables and milk has been declining across the EU with many negative consequences for Europeans. The aim of the new rules is to do more in our schools – not only to provide our children with healthy foodstuffs, but to better educate them about healthy eating habits," said Marc Tarabella (S&D, BE), who drafted the agriculture committee's resolution. The committee's amendments to the legislation were adopted by 32 votes to six, with seven abstentions. More emphasis on education, more eligible products and fairer funding The agriculture committee endorsed plans to merge two schemes which are currently separate – one providing milk for schoolchildren and the other fruit – and to extend the educational measures already included in the fruit scheme to cover milk as well. The committee also wants: - to extend the list of foodstuffs eligible for EU funding to include local milk products with proven beneficial effects for children's health, such as yoghurt, cheese and curd (provided they are not flavoured and do not contain added fruits, nuts or cocoa); - member states to earmark 10% - 20% of the EU funding they receive to educational activities, designed for example to promote healthy eating habits and sustainable production, and including visits to farms and the occasional distribution of local specialities such as processed fruit and vegetables (unless they contain added sugar, fat, salt or sweeteners), honey, olives or dried fruits; - an additional €20 million a year for the measures covering milk, bringing annual funding for milk and milk products up to €100 million, with €150 million for fruit and vegetables; - a fairer distribution of EU funds among member countries, by setting two core criteria for the entire scheme (the proportion of six to ten-year-old children in the population and the degree of development of the region within the member state). For milk, the historical use of milk-scheme funds would also be taken into account for the first six years of the scheme and would be balanced with a new, minimum annual amount of EU aid per child. Next steps The set of amendments to the draft law as approved by the Agriculture committee should be scrutinised by the full House during the 27 May plenary session in Brussels. Background The school milk scheme, focusing mainly on the distribution of milk and milk products, was set up in 1977 while the school fruit scheme was introduced in 2007 and included an educational dimension. Both were created to promote the consumption of fruit, vegetables and milk and milk products but have until now operated under different legal and financial arrangements. All 28 member states participate in the school milk scheme and 25 implement the school fruit scheme (all except the United Kingdom, Finland and Sweden). Consumption of fruit, vegetables and milk continues to fall across Europe. Over 20 million children are overweight and adolescents are on average consuming only 30% to 50% of the recommended daily intake of fruit and vegetables. For more info: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/nl/news-room/content/20150414IPR41819/html/Milk-and-fruit-in-schools-agriculture-MEPs-promote-healthy-eating

Preparation for AWWWE - From Spain, El Puig

Below, some pictures about the preparation of the participants that will take part to the youth exchange in Brussels, hosted by Intermundia ASBL. Thanks to the association Joventut of El Puig, from Spain, Comunidad Valenciana.

Some pictures from the last year event of Intermundia, Are We What We Eat, waiting for the second edition!

All the participants!

Romanian group

Italian group, Coffee and more

Bulgarian food preparation

Beer tasting

Preparing something!

AWWWE 2.0

Curious about an intercultural experience related to food, with youngsters from 4 other European countries?  We are looking for 5 Belgian participants! International Youth Exchange – KA1 Erasmus+ Programme "Are we what we eat? Testing - Discovering - Learning 2.0" 30 July - 05 August 2015 (30 July arrival day - 05 August departure day) Brussels, Belgium Countries: Albania, Greece, Italy, Spain and Belgium

Participants: 5 youngsters (18+ year old) plus 1 Leader (18+) from each country - 30 participants in total Profile of participants: Young people over 18 years old with a strong interest towards to the theme of the youth exchange and open to exchange views and opinions, no need to have former experience in youth exchanges. The working language will be English, so at least a basic knowledge of it is necessary. This youth exchange is not a holiday programme, please ask the participants to fill in very well the form of interest and explain their motivation, thank you. Lodging: You will be hosted in the youth hostel “Waterman” (http://www.jes.be/waterman/) in Molenbeek-Saint Jean, one of the more characteristic neighbours of Brussels, in shared rooms each one with private toilet with hot shower. All facilities are provided except washing machine. IMPORTANT: sleeping bags and towels are required. Food: There will be a cook preparing lunches and dinners but every group will have the possibility to cook traditional food. The breakfast will be self-prepared. Summary of the Project: The project “Are we what we eat? Testing – Discovering – Learning 2.0” is a youth exchange involving 30 young people coming from 5 countries: Belgium, Albania, Greece, Italy and Spain. It will take place in Molenbeek-Saint Jean (Brussels) from the 30th of July until the 5th of August 2015. This exchange is a follow up to a first Intermundia youth exchange that took place in Brussels in September 2014 with 4 other countries. The idea of giving birth to a “2.0 version” of the first exchange is the result of a network that Intermundia have created with the partner associations, met over the course of 2014 in different international training courses. The main topic of the exchange will be intercultural learning and the fight against cultural prejudices through food and eating habits, including reflecting upon the connection between the way you eat and health. Participants will identify differences and similarities among traditional food cultures of the involved countries. The activities will involve sharing one’s own food culture with the others, getting to know similarities and differences of every country’s culture: through workshops and non-formal education activities the participants will discover more about the other countries, in order to eliminate barriers and prejudices among them. The participants will also be involved in workshops about using leftovers, nutrition, recycling and environmental issues. Food will be the instrument for this exchange of experiences. During the exchange we will shot and edit a video containing 5 recipes made of leftovers, created by the participants. These recipes will be the result of different workshops and working groups where they will have invented their own recipes not to waste food. The video will be uploaded on a web platform and Facebook group where the participants will be free to share contents even after the exchange. The contents of this exchange will also be available on Intermundia’s webpage as well as on those of partner associations, thus ensuring visibility and follow up to the experience. Financial conditions: This programme is funded with the support by the Erasmus+ Programme. 100% food and lodgement covered by the project. Note: We will refund all the participants after the end of the project, as soon as we receive all the tickets A/R in original and as soon as we receive the first instalment from the Belgian National Agency. We can refund the tickets return (train + bus + metro) second class travels. The taxi cannot be refunded. For more info and questions feel free to contact: • Valentina Giuffrida (Project coordinator): valentina.intermundia@gmail.com • Intermundia’s team info@intermundia.be