“This event invites us to celebrate and remember the importance of the Mediterranean diet, not only a healthy and sustainable dietary model, but also a fundamental piece of our cultural identity. The Mediterranean diet, recognized by UNESCO as an intangible heritage of humanity, is a true lifestyle characterized by traditions, foods and conviviality, famous throughout the world as synonymous with good health and gastronomic creativity. Italy is its guardian, but I believe it is the protagonist and we must commit ourselves to protecting and enhancing this development model which is ours”. This was said by the Minister of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forestry, Francesco Lollobrigida, today in a video message during the conference, on the occasion of the first national day of Made in Italy, on the Mediterranean diet at the Paestum and Velia Archaeological Museum (Sa ).
“We want to guarantee future generations that food security, that guarantee of food for all which is also good food for all – continues the minister – the fruit of the work of farmers, producers, processors which must not be lost” considering “only the price or standardized productions that reduce costs and centralize wealth in the hands of a few. Food is not just nourishment, it is a central element in the prevention of diseases, in treatment, in physical and mental well-being as Hippocrates claimed, in the seventh century BC, together with sport”.
“We must counter any push for the standardization of diets and we must firmly say we are against conditioning labeling that is not informative, as we did with the Nutri-Score. I say it clearly”: this labeling “informs little, influences a lot. Why? To make those who support these models choose those products that are more profitable, instead of supporting people's possibility of discernment and choice” remarks Lollobrigida, who then adds: “We must be a little less consumers, a little more people who they know what the correct choice is for them, for their children and for future generations. We must work on schools, on training. I thank the teachers who do an extraordinary job in this sense, but also the tools of innovation social networks, when they can also provide useful information to those who receive it and not just to those who finance the promotions”.
And again: “We also need to invest in food systems, in production chains to give more and more the possibility of enhancing the role of quality food, instead contrasting models such as those that imagine having hyper-processed or laboratory-made foods, which they have nothing to do with the well-being and quality that our Mediterranean diet has guaranteed us over time.”
“This year the G7 on agriculture will also focus on this model – continues the minister – We want to tell the world how the most advanced nations can tackle the problem of food security by helping those who have potential, like Africa, but who do not have had the tools, because it was often just an object of exploitation. We need a strong alliance, for example, between Europe and Africa, between Western nations and developing countries, to create food self-sufficiency in those nations, but also to give the possibility of enhancing the quality of their products by giving them a fair price, in line with our markets and therefore also increase the wealth of those peoples”. “We have worked on this and will continue to do so with the Meloni Government. Today's event also contributes significantly to the possibility of talking about ourselves and comparing ourselves, because the discussion – concludes Lollobrigida – is always an opportunity that those who are convinced of their ideas never escape”.
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