Barilla Foundation Presents Italy's Milan Charter: A Global Food Deal For Expo 2015

WASHINGTON, Jan. 22, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- The Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition (BCFN) Foundation today introduced for the first time the Milan Charter – an Italian global food deal proposal that will be presented at the Universal Expo in Milan later this year – at the 1st Annual Food Tank Summit in Washington D.C. The summit, held in partnership with The George Washington University, brought together more than 75 international thought leaders from the food and agriculture field, where key individuals convened to discuss an important push for international sustainable agriculture agreements like the Milan Charter.

With contributions from institutions, academia, civil society, and the private sector, the Milan Charter is the policy document the Italian government will use to promote a more sustainable global food system at Expo 2015, taking place in Milan from May to October. The final version will be handed over to the Secretary General of the United Nations during World Food Day on Oct. 16, as the legacy of Expo 2015, featuring the theme "Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life." The Milan Charter originates from various initiatives and studies taking into account the different perspectives of a broken food system – including the Milan Protocol, the proposal first launched by the BCFN Foundation at the end of 2013 offering solutions to the major global paradoxes on food and nutrition.

"It's absurd that today there is abundant food for everyone, yet almost a billion people go hungry, while waste, the excessive consumption of food and the use of land for purposes other than food production are normal practices,"says Guido Barilla, BCFN Foundation Chairman "Expo 2015 should leave a deeper and longer-lasting legacy than just a showcase for fine food products."

The Milan Protocol (www.milanprotocol.com) details specific measures to:

• Combat food waste from field to fork
• Fight hunger and obesity, promoting healthy lifestyles from a young age
• Encourage sustainable agriculture, battling financial speculation on raw materials

Since presenting the Milan Protocol, the BCFN Foundation has worked hard to ensure that almost 100 top organizations, institutions and private companies – as well as thousands of private citizens – sign up for it.  Now, the Barilla Foundation will work with the Italian government with the aim of getting the 146 countries taking part at Expo to support the Milan Charter.

All the activities of the First Annual Food Tank Summit can be followed online by visiting www.foodtank.com and www.barillacfn.com; it's also possible to join the conversation using hashtag #FoodTank and by sending questions to [email protected].

Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition Foundation
The Milan Protocol is an initiative of the BCFN - Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition - Foundation, a think tank with a multidisciplinary approach to the world of food and nutrition which establishes links between these and other related issues, including economics, medicine, nutrition, sociology and the environment. New BCFN Foundation Board members are Slow Food President Carlo Petrini, S&D Chairman of the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development of the European Parliament Paolo De Castro, and Bocconi Vice Rector for Development Alberto Grando. The body which oversees the work of the Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition is the Advisory Board, the members of which include: Barbara Buchner, Senior Director of the Climate Policy Initiative Europe, Ellen Gustafson, a sustainable nutrition expert, Gabriele Riccardi, an endocrinologist, and Camillo Ricordi, a scientist at the University of Miami, who were joined in 2013 by Riccardo Valentini, the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize winner and Director of the Climate Impacts Division of the Euro-Mediterranean Center for Climate Change, and Danielle Nierenberg, an expert in sustainable agriculture and co-founder of Food Tank: the Food Think Tank.

SOURCE Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition

Related Links

http://www.barillacfn.com