• On 24 and 25 January, the partner organisations will meet at the UPC’s Baix Llobregat Campus to share the conclusions drawn in each work package (WP)
• The SWITCHtoHEALTHY project, part of the PRIMA program of the European Union, aims to develop tools and methodologies that encourage the consumption of the Mediterranean diet in family homes
• The CREDA team, composed of Chema Gil, Amèlia Sarroca, Djamel Rahmani, Kenza Goumeida and Tianyu Zhang, will present how to collect the data necessary for the analysis of the WP5, which monitors and understands the changes in behaviour

January 22, 2024

The Centre for Agro-Food Economics and Development has organized the annual meeting of the European project SWITCHtoHEALTHY (Switching Mediterranean Consumers to Mediterranean Sustainable healthy Dietary Paters) on January 24 and 25  at the Baix Llobregat Campus of the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC).

During the conference, which will welcome the representatives of some partners of the project, the research done in each Work Package will be discussed and shared throughout the first year and a half of the study, as well as the conclusions drawn so far.

The SWITCHtoHEALTHY initiative is part of the European Union PRIMA program, and aims to develop educational tools, methodologies, and strategies that encourage consumption and adherence to the Mediterranean diet in families with children of school age. Thus, SWITCHtoHEALTHY intends to work in collaboration with families and educational centres to introduce healthy snacks and prepare weekly menus for the whole family that are also sustainable.

The agenda of the meeting is divided in such a way that: On Wednesday 24 will be presented the advances of the parking lots 1, 2, 3 and 7, and will end with a social dinner; and on Thursday 25 will be treated the rest of the packages, 4, 5 and 6. Thus, the conference will be attended by representatives of a total of 11 entities: ENCO Srl., the Bursa Uludag Univeristy, the Confederació d’Associacions Empresarials Europees Egípcies (CEEBA), the Centro Nacional de Tecnología y Seguridad Alimentaria (CNTA), the Departament d’Acció Climàtica Alimentació i Agenda Rural (DACC),  EURECAT, the Centre for Research ¬ Technology, Hellas (CERTH), Consumers Lebanon, the Universitá degli studi di Parma (UNIPR), the Université Mohamed Prémier (UMP) and CREDA.

Amèlia Sarroca, a nutrition technician, works on the project together with Djamel Rahmani, PhD in Economic Analysis and Business Strategy, Kenza Goumeida, PhD student in Sustainability, Tianyu Zhang, a graduate in International Relations and International Law, and Chema Gil, PhD in Economics and director of CREDA.

For Sarroca, SWITCHtoHEALTHY “is a great opportunity for families to have tools to improve their eating habits, adapting to a diet that has been shown to be prevention of many diseases and respectful of the environment and the ecosystem”. “We must follow a more sustainable model and be aware of what we eat and its origin, and this is what we try to achieve through a triple intervention”, says the technician.

In addition, the holding of the meeting in Barcelona “is an opportunity to share again the knowledge of the different participating entities, and enjoy moments of sociability that are also part of one of the vital pillars of the Mediterranean diet”, she says.

SWITCHtoHEALTHY, which began in 2022 and aims to finish in March 2025, has recruited families and schools from the various participating countries to monitor their consumption habits over a long period of time. The initiative is led by ECON Srl. and it has a total of 18 participating entities.