New push to put more seafood on the world’s plates
The non-profit organisation EAT has entered into a partnership with marketing group the Norwegian Seafood Council to promote increased consumption of seafood in a bid to contribute to a shift in global food systems to include more food from the ocean.
EAT founder and working chairwoman, Gunhild Stordalen, has been appointed by United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed to lead efforts to both create demand for healthy and sustainable food and to reduce food waste ahead of the first ever UN summit on food, which will take place next October.
As a result of the UN mandate, EAT is teaming up with strategic partners, including the Norwegian Seafood Council, to collaborate on initiatives and activities and create a strong voice for change towards more sustainable global food production and consumption patterns.
2% of calorie intake
Changing the global food system towards increased production and consumption of sustainable foods is key to achieving the 1.5-degree target outlined in the Paris Agreement as well the UN Sustainable Development Goals, according to a recent report in Science magazine.
Seafood is being pointed to as an important part of the solution to feed a growing world population in a sustainable manner. But today, food from the oceans make up only 2% of global calorie intake.
“The goal is to build a movement for change that can continue to grow long after the summit is over. In our view, mobilising key players in the food system is key,” said Stordalen.
Less red meat, more fish
EAT is a non-profit founded by the Stordalen Foundation, Stockholm Resilience Centre and the Wellcome Trust to catalyse a food system transformation, and hit the headlines last year when the EAT-Lancet Commission’s planetary health diet was published.
The Commission’s report focused on a diet that is healthy for the consumer and the planet, using food that can be produced sustainably without using up the planet’s resources.
It stated that a transformation to healthy diets by 2050 involved more than doubling the consumption of healthy foods such as fruits, vegetables, legumes and nuts, and a greater than 50% reduction in global consumption of less healthy foods such as added sugars and red meat, primarily by reducing excessive consumption in wealthier countries.
Fish was the only animal protein in a list of emphasised healthy foods in the report.
