The future of food with EIT Food's FutureFoodMakers

Takeaway points:

In July 2021, in the run up to the United Nations Food Systems Summit and COP26, EIT Food embarked on a mission to find 10 young Europeans who were passionate about driving change in the food system, for their generation and future generations to come. These FutureFoodMakers were selected by a panel of food system experts and stakeholders, and have worked together to explore the issues they feel need to be addressed in our food system by engaging with a range of food system stakeholders.

The EIT Food FutureFoodMakers used their knowledge and experiences to produce a manifesto for the food system, The Menu for Change, which they launched at the EIT Food Future of Food conference to agrifood decision makers.

The menu for change has six calls to action:

1. Target 25% of EU agricultural land to be managed under regenerative practices by 2030 and develop a training body to support existing and new farmers in the transition to regenerative farming
2. Define uniform EU nutrition and labelling guidelines which are easy and accessible, meet individuals’ needs and include the environmental impact of food products
3. Develop an inclusion policy that considers the effects of regulations on food costs among vulnerable populations and the provision of vouchers for nutrient-rich foods
4. Develop an EU-wide true cost of food policy that mandates the calculation of the true cost of foods produced by medium-large corporations and multinationals through the implementation of life cycle analysis and impact assessments
5. Tackle food waste in supermarkets and through development of the Bioeconomy strategy by creating supermarket reduction monitoring plans that feed into the EU-wide food waste monitoring programme and accelerating the development of substitutes to fossil fuel-based materials that are biobased, recyclable or biodegradable at EU level
6. Include the nutritional, health, and environmental implications of food in education curriculums for children, as well as provide support and resources for parents and teachers on healthy and sustainable diets.