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Optimising food information and communication towards healthier and more sustainable dietary patterns

Project description

Studying the influence behind food choices

Food choices are shaped by a mix of factors, including socio-economic conditions, age and gender. Adding to this complexity, mainstream and social media, along with marketing, strongly influence dietary behaviours. However, the ways in which these information sources drive food choices are not well understood. This knowledge gap limits efforts to promote healthy and sustainable diets. In this context, the EU-funded Infoodmation project will study how different messages and the way they interact with tools and channels. It will analyse communication approaches across the private sector, governments and civil society, with a focus on vulnerable groups. Findings will inform best practices, policy recommendations and an open-access hub to help food system actors encourage healthier and more sustainable eating.

Objective

Food choices are determined by a wide range of factors (socio-economic conditions, gender, age, etc.). On top of this, mainstream media, social media, and marketing play an important role in food choices, but how they do so is not well understood, nor is the knowledge sufficiently applied to promoting healthy and sustainable diets and discouraging less healthy and less sustainable ones. Infoodmation aims to fill these gaps by increasing the knowledge of how these sources of food information influence food consumption and using it to develop best practices for food system actors, policies, and regulations to support healthier and more sustainable dietary patterns. The project will identify approaches, tools, channels, techniques, and messages used by the private sector, governments, and civil society (Infoodmation Key Actors) to communicate about food (also focusing on vulnerable groups, such as children, adolescents and those of a low socio-economic status). These effects will be assessed, alongside the effectiveness of parental control, the impact of negative vs. positive messages and the effects and spread of misinformation (and how to counter it). EU legislation related to food information will be evaluated in light of these findings, as will policy measures at the national, regional, and local levels in EU member states. These analyses will result in a compendium of best practices, policy briefs, and recommendations for responsible business strategies addressing different Key Actors, supported by capacity building tools and an open-access Knowledge Hub of results, recommendations and materials on food communication. Continuous consultation with food system actors will ensure that the recommendations are relevant, fair, feasible, and adaptable to different contexts.
Infoodmation consists of a multidisciplinary consortium with an extensive network of Key Actors, multi-stakeholder initiatives and EU-funded projects related to healthy and sustainable eating.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

Keywords

Programme(s)

Topic(s)

Funding Scheme

HORIZON-CSA - HORIZON Coordination and Support Actions

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Call for proposal

(opens in new window) HORIZON-CL6-2024-GOVERNANCE-01

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Coordinator

EUROPEAN FOOD INFORMATION COUNCIL
Net EU contribution
€ 599 000,00
Address
RUE BELLIARD 2A
1040 Bruxelles / Brussel
Belgium
SME
Yes
Region
Région de Bruxelles-Capitale/Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest Région de Bruxelles-Capitale/ Brussels Hoofdstedelijk Gewest Arr. de Bruxelles-Capitale/Arr. Brussel-Hoofdstad
Activity type
Other
Links
Total cost
No data

Participants (9)