Milan Urban Food Policy Pact. UPWr’s contribution to Wrocław

On 20 April 2022 Mayor Jacek Sutryk signed the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact on behalf of Wrocław. The pact, as well as its importance for more than just the city's inhabitants, were discussed at a meeting in Galeria Design in Żyjnia. Deputy Mayor of Wrocław Jakub Mazur emphasises that the inclusion of food-related issues in the city's strategic objectives is an expression of the many global changes that we have experienced in recent years – the COVID-19 pandemic, the threat of famine as a consequence of the war in Ukraine, climate change.

– The Milan Urban Food Policy Pact is a kind of declaration of concern for the city's food system, i.e. for everything that happens to food within the city, from production to consumption by humans. From the perspective of strategic management, we are beginning to talk about food security, i.e. guaranteeing every citizen access to sufficient, healthy and safe food, which is also affordable and produced with respect for the environment and all the participants in the process – said Deputy Mayor of Wrocław Jakub Mazur during the meeting, adding that these participants include agricultural producers, land owners, bakeries, transport, wholesalers, shops, supermarkets, discount shops, hospitals, hotels, dormitories, canteens, markets, restaurants, warehouses and, last but not least, waste storage and processing facilities. And food is wasted at each of these stages, and is still disproportionately cheap in relation to the cost of its production.

Wrocław signed the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact already having an impressive track record. These include educational projects carried out by the University of Environmental and Life Sciences in cooperation with, among others, the city, FoodShift or BioCantreens, covering such issues as counteracting food waste, i.e. community fridges, but also good results in the fight against childhood obesity thanks to the introduction of certifications for school canteens and shops, systemic support for scientific solutions implemented in business in the MOZART competition, or Poland's largest social campaign "Wrocław does not waste" and the activities of the Catering Council under the auspices of the Mayor of Wrocław. These activities all fall within 5 of the 6 areas of intervention that make up the urban food policy defined in the Milan Pact.

The University of Environmental and Life Sciences in Wrocław also participated in a meeting presenting the policy. Dr. Marek Szołtysik, from the Department of Functional Food Product Development, emphasised that the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact, which Wroclaw has joined, is basically a collaborative and multifaceted effort, an essential element of which are the work and commitment of the scientific community.

– Scientists work on new ideas, technology, solutions, teach good practices, implementation of new solutions, and finally train professionals who, equipped with the latest knowledge, are able to respond to the challenges of the modern world – emphasised Dr. Szołtysik, adding that food and everything related to it, i.e. both production and human nutrition, are one of the priority research areas at the UPWr.

The university educates high-class specialists in the field of catering technology and organisation, human nutrition and dietetics, food technology and human nutrition, bioeconomy, promoting appropriate – and therefore beneficial – attitudes for people and the environment, but also implements international scientific projects as part of the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact. A nutritional education network for the sustainable development of the Nysa region, strategies for the prevention and management of food waste in Central Europe, the use of protein-carbohydrate waste materials in biorefineries, the development of sustainable and innovative food system solutions to increase employment in the food sector, boost small and medium-sized enterprises and empower citizens and facilitate urban and rural cohesion, or scientific work on functional food with health-promoting and preventive effects – these are only part of the scientific, but also community-oriented activities of UPWr researchers, who teach children in kindergartens and schools the principles of healthy eating, promote environmentally beneficial short supply chains and the farm-to-table principle, the zero waste concept or community gardens.

The Milan Urban Food Policy Pact was signed on 15 October 2015.