Food: six countries join forces for Mediterranean diet

FLORENCE, ITALY – A European project with a 5 million euro budget aimed at safeguarding traditional Mediterranean products has kicked off. The project is called MedDiet and, starting from Italy with Unioncamere – which groups the country’s chambers of commerce, industry, craft and agriculture – involves Greece, Spain, Egypt, Tunisia and Lebanon. Its objective is to create in 30 months a Euro-Mediterranean agreement so that all Mediterranean countries will adopt measures to safeguard their food industry which are recognized at a European level.

The programme will involve 15.000 consumers and 5.000 students with training courses across 120 schools. ‘This is a network of networks’, said Unioncamere President Ferruccio Dardanello presenting the initiative which involves national association Citta’ dell’olio, Italian and foreign chambers of commerce along with associations and research institutes to promote the Mediterranean Diet and its role in a healthy lifestyle.