Matteo Renzi Supports The Milan Protocol

PARMA, Italy, Nov. 20, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi gave his support to the Milan Protocol promoted by the Barilla Center for Food and Nutrition (BCFN) Foundation in the lead up to Expo Milano 2015, themed "Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life."  The Milan Protocol aims to raise the awareness of governments, companies and civil society about the urgent action needed to make the global food system sustainable: the reduction of food waste, the promotion of sustainable agriculture, and the war on hunger and obesity by promoting healthy lifestyles.

"The Italian Government believes in and bets on the Milan Protocol," said Renzi. "Its objectives are our objectives. I would say thanks to Barilla and to the BCFN Foundation because they give us the opportunity to tell how Expo is going to be a serious affair. I'm here to say that we're in. We will continue together on this path."

On the day that Pope Francis underlined the urgent need for new rules to address the big food and nutrition contradictions of the modern world, the BCFN Foundation handed over the Protocol to the Italian premier with the hope that countries participating at Expo Milano 2015 will show their support for global food practices.

Guido Barilla, President of the BCFN Foundation, said: "Our hope is that Italian and international institutions will adopt the Protocol in order to underline the urgency of placing concrete measures at the core of political agendas to safeguard our future. We have an opportunity to go down in history by making clear commitments with the world."

The Milan Protocol
The Milan Protocol presents itself as a valid basis for discussion to plan our food and nutrition future. It is a document open to suggestions where citizens can submit their proposals through the dedicated platform www.milanprotocol.com.  Five hundred international experts have given their contributions to the Milan Protocol over the past 12 months, while more than 70 organizations and institutional bodies - on top of thousands of private individuals - have endorsed it.

So far, the Protocol consists of eight articles, and it has already been signed by numerous international organizations, including the famous chef Jamie Oliver and his Jamie Oliver Foundation, Eataly, Slow Food, World Wildlife Fund, Italian farmers' association Coldiretti and Save The Children – as well as by personalities including Oscar Farinetti from Eataly and Carlo Petrini.

"The Milan Protocol offers an extraordinary opportunity to focus attention, opportunities for change and, most importantly, the planning skills of the institutions, civil society and companies on a concern we all share," said Slow Food founder, Carlo Petrini.  "Slow Food has been contributing to the process of drafting the Protocol from the outset. We think that the progress made to date constitutes an excellent basis for further improvements that can be made thanks to everyone's contribution."

About Barilla Center for Food and Nutrition Foundation
The Milan Protocol is an initiative of the BCFN - Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition - Foundation, a think tank with a multidisciplinary approach to the world of food and nutrition which establishes links between these and other related issues, including economics, medicine, nutrition, sociology and the environment. New BCFN Foundation Board members are Slow Food President Carlo Petrini, S&D Chairman of the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development of the European Parliament Paolo De Castro, and Bocconi Vice Rector for Development Alberto Grando. The body which oversees the work of the Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition is the Advisory Board, the members of which include: Barbara Buchner, Senior Director of the Climate Policy Initiative Europe, Ellen Gustafson, a sustainable nutrition expert, Gabriele Riccardi, an endocrinologist, and Camillo Ricordi, a scientist at the University of Miami, who were joined in 2013 by Riccardo Valentini, the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize winner and Director of the Climate Impacts Division of the Euro-Mediterranean Center for Climate Change, and Danielle Nierenberg, an expert in sustainable agriculture and co-founder of FoodTank: the Food Think Tank.

For more Info:
BCFN Foundation – Luca Di Leo | [email protected] | + 39 0521 2621
                             Caterina Grossi l [email protected]| +39 0521 2621
Burson - Marsteller – Laura Poggio | [email protected] | +39 340 5505096  
                               Raffaella Tosi | [email protected]| +39 349 7668003
                               Edoardo Cavalcabò | [email protected]  | +39 3392201228

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20141120/160079

SOURCE Barilla Center for Food and Nutrition Foundation