Sostenibilità alimentare

The own-initiative opinion aims to analyse the link between current food systems and diet-related diseases;  identify policies, tools and instruments that are needed to foster healthier diets both on the supply and demand side, for example sustainable dietary guidelines, sustainable food labelling schemes, education modules in school curricula, information campaigns, specific agricultural schemes (such as the EU school food scheme), food product reformulation, etc.; highlight examples of good practices at national and local level - including civil society and business initiatives; contribute to the debate on the implementation of food-related SDGs and in the context of the UN Decade of Action on Nutrition; provide recommendations for future EU action.

The Commission's initiative follows one of the recommendations of the Agricultural Markets Task Force that the EU should legislate in the areas of UTPs for agricultural products, and responds to some of the conclusions of the 2016 EESC opinion on "A fairer food supply chain".

The own-initiative opinion, prepared by the EESC Permanent Study Group on Sustainable Food Systems, will aim to identify existing challenges, policy inconsistencies and obstacles to a more coherent food policy approach at EU level; to provide examples of ongoing transitions to more sustainable food policies at local/regional/national level; to highlight the role of civil society in building partnerships among stakeholders across the food supply chain; and to define how a comprehensive food policy for the EU should look, including an indicative roadmap.