The SOCIALIMEN group wins a MISSIONS Project: COMENSAL COnsorcio Misiones Científicas Misiones Sostenibilidad AliMENtaria: por un entorno alimentario SALudable, sostenible y justo para Asturias

The SOCIALIMEN group has been awarded a project under the SCIENTIFIC MISSIONS calls with the consortium “COMENSAL: COnsorcio Misiones Científicas Sostenibilidad AliMENtaria: por un entorno alimentario SALudable, sostenible y justo para Asturias”.

The aim of this Scientific Mission is to activate relations between the agents of the Asturian agri-food system in order to collectively face the challenge of food sustainability. The following outline reflects this mutual collaboration. On the one hand, we can see the need to jointly improve the consumption contexts faced by citizens; on the other hand, it is clear that we are facing a shared responsibility.

The COMENSAL Consortium, alluding with this term to shared food, will generate links between the agents of the agri-food system of the region in a double dimension: on the one hand, offering signs of awareness of all the agents through the demonstration of good practices of food sustainability in their usual activities; and on the other hand, getting collectively involved in the elaboration of sustainable food guides for the productive sector, industry, distribution, catering and households.

To achieve this objective, a multidisciplinary scientific team will approach the diagnosis of food sustainability from different points of view: from agricultural and environmental technologies, from the social and cultural perspective, from the field of health, from the legal perspective and from the economy. Good sustainable practices will be demonstrated by agents from the agri-food sector with the participation of significant companies from the agri-food chain in Asturias.

Within COMENSAL, the following pilot project entitled “Diagnóstico para la elaboración de guías colaborativas de sostenibilidad alimentarias” (Diagnosis for the elaboration of collaborative food sustainability guides) will be developed.

Summary of the project:

In order to facilitate the path towards food sustainability in the regional agri-food sector, it is necessary to carry out a diagnosis of the initial situation faced by those who are in direct contact with food. Taking as a starting point the production practices of agriculture and livestock farming, the processing practices of industry and distribution, and the practices of those who prepare food (households/restaurants), this diagnosis will have several objectives:

Firstly, to describe the food sustainability behaviours of all the partners involved in the COMENSAL Consortium.

Secondly, to detect the least sustainable behaviours, investigating the factors that prevent them from moving towards food sustainability: economic, social, cultural, health, environmental and legal.

Thirdly, to identify the predisposition of the agents of the agri-food system to change towards a production, industrial, distribution and consumption model that leads to healthy, sustainable and fair food in the region.

With a multidisciplinary vision, an analysis will be carried out that integrates economic, environmental, social, cultural and legal factors.

With a multi-sectoral vision, we will work with a representation of each of the agents in the regional agri-food system: production, industry, distribution, catering and households.

The ultimate aim of the proposal is to produce collaborative food sustainability guides for each sector that are drawn up with the participation of all the agents involved in the COMENSAL Consortium.