Regio’Com: the guide on the European best practices of fruit and vegetable promotion
On Friday May 11, AREFLH presented the 4th edition of its Regio’Com guide as part of a conference organised at Macfrut with the support of the Emilia-Romagna region.
In order to fight against the stagnation of fruit and vegetable consumption in Europe, which represents a major challenge for the sector, AREFLH brought light to a number of promotion and healthy food education actions implemented in its regions, thus emphasizing on their richness and diversity.
The Regio’Com guide takes stock of the consumption of fruit and vegetables in Europe and highlights the stakes of promotion, a crucial lever to boost good eating habits in the long run. The guide also identifies a series of initiatives both at international and local level, with a focus on interprofessional programmes and actions carried out by producer organisations.
Simona Caselli, President of AREFLH, and Renzo Piraccini, President of Macfrut, opened the conference by focusing on the importance of initiatives such as Regio’Com for sharing experiences, best practices and joint programmes between the sector’s stakeholders on the theme of promotion and consumption.
For Simona Caselli, it is essential to “join forces to better inform consumers about the health benefits of fruit and vegetables, to participate in the healthy diet education of young people, to stimulate research for safer and more sustainable productions”.
Laura Gennaro, representative of CREA (Council for Agricultural Research and Analysis of the Agrarian Economy) presented the positive results obtained by the EU programme Fruits & Vegetable School Scheme in Italy.
Gerd Byermoen, from the Norwegian Fruit & Vegetable Marketing Board, gave an overview of consumption in 7 European countries, highlighting the main data and trends.
The conference carried on with Simona Rubbi, Massimo Brusaporci and Lorena D’Annunzio, representatives of professional organisations and international movements promoting fruit and vegetable consumption, they presented a series of actions and best practices carried out in their territories and outlined the successes and remaining challenges.
François Lafitte, President of AREFLH’s Promotion Commission concluded the event by highlighting the role of fruits and vegetables promotion to meet the nutritional and health concerns of European populations. For him, “living better and longer thanks to the consumption of fruit and vegetables could be the new creed of the future European generations”.
The Regio’Com guide can be read online on www.areflh.org (in French and Italian)
Photo 1: From left to right: Pauline Panegos, Renzo Piraccini, Simona Caselli, Gerd Byermoen
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