Around 60 representatives of various food, health and environmental organisations from across Europe participated in LiveWell for LIFE’s first stakeholder workshop organised on 18 September, in Brussels. The purpose of the event was to discuss and analyse the draft results of the first project research A balance of healthy and sustainable food choices for France, Spain, and Sweden – in particular the definition and the delivery of the case studies built around the composition of the LiveWell Plate in these countries.

The event kicked off with an opening presentation from Ladislav Miko, Deputy Director General, DG Health & Consumer Policy, European Commission, who welcomed the initiative to bring together health and environment stakeholders. He indicated that the project has the potential to contribute to important EU initiatives such as the European Health Strategy due to be launched in 2013 and the current food waste policy work. He also stressed the need for the project to consider the economic consequences of its findings and discussed the consumer’s right of choice and the balance between informing and regulating what people should eat.

During the first session the participants learned about the research and methodology behind the development of the case studies for the three pilot countries (France, Spain and Sweden) and had the opportunity to debate several issues during a questions and answers session.

In the second and third sessions the participants have discussed in small working groups several scenarios to refine the case studies and make them more relevant in their respective countries. Their feedback included advice on relevant data, best tools to help reflect the LiveWell findings, the impact of moving consumption towards LiveWell guidelines and other constructive opinions to help refine the project.

Last, but not least, they identified recommendations and solutions to progress the LiveWell for LIFE diet and set the scene for the next stage of the project in order to produce sustainable diet policy options.

The consultation process successfully kicked off at the workshop continue online for three weeks. All interested stakeholders who could not be present in Brussels was able to input and comment via the project’s membership platform.

Once the consultation was completed the project team produced a set of reports: the revised A balance of healthy and sustainable food choices for France, Spain, and Sweden, A balance of healthy and sustainable food choices for France, Spain, and Sweden – report summary, the LiveWell Plate evaluation report and the LiveWell FAQs. All the reports are available in all project languages on our Resource page.