Sustainable Food Laboratory

Since the Food Lab events in London, the European members of the Food for Health team have been coordinating with the regional government of Andalucia and the city of Amsterdam to organize two events:

1. A meeting on the role of public and institutional food in promoting sustainable rural development and improved livelihoods for small and family farmers, Seville, Spain, November 8-9, 2007.
2. The creation of a transatlantic metropolitan network focusing on the development and implementation of city region sustainable food strategies, Spring 2008.

Also next month this team will publish the results of their survey of best practice in sustainable public and institutional food systems. This will consist of 50 examples from seven countries together with analyses. This work is funded by the Charles Leopold Mayer Foundation.

Other upcoming deliverables from the Food for Health team:

• The first of two meetings to explore the viability of an U.S. based Urban School Meals Institute is happening this week, May 8-10. The purpose is to support large city school districts in the shift to feeding children healthier and more sustainably produced, distributed and prepared food. The second meeting will be next month, June 18-21, 2007.
  
• 100 examples of best practice on DVD and the AlimenTerra website along with original survey documents and supporting materials (feasibility studies, menus, newsletters, policy documents etc.).
• Two international newsletters in June and October with updates of what's happening in sustainable public and institutional food in Europe and North America with interview and reports, funded by the King Baudouin Foundation.
  
• A stakeholder's guide to setting up sustainable public and institutional food systems, also funded by the King Baudouin Foundation, November-December, 2007