On Monday 7 November the 2011 Beter Eten (‘Better Eating’) Conference will begin. The theme of the second edition of this conference is ‘less waste, responsibly tasty’. The conference focuses on food that is healthier, for which the producer receives appreciation, and which is better for its surroundings and the environment. For this reason, this year’s conference will also pay attention to reducing the huge amount of waste in the food chain. The event is organised by the agricultural sector think tank Agro & Co, the agricultural entrepreneurs’ association ZLTO, and Wageningen UR Food & Biobased Research.
The agri-food sector increasingly sees real food and eating better as credible leverage for speeding up the process of making the food chain more sustainable, while making quality, taste, and product safety priorities. Society is increasingly demanding food which is tasty as well as responsible. This challenge offers big opportunities for innovations, at both the business level and the chain level.
Primary producers, food processors, and retailers, as well as representatives of knowledge institutes and interest groups, have agreed to participate in the Beter Eten 2011 Conference. The event will feature inspiring speakers and a series of workshops [in Dutch] in which participants will be able to give concrete shape to their own ideas.
Waste
This year, extra attention will be given to ‘waste in the food chain’. Each year in the Netherlands, 30 to 50% of the food is thrown away in the process from field to table. This is a waste of both money and food. At the conference’s conclusion, participants will be offered a No-Waste Dinner, prepared by top chefs using food which normally would already have been thrown away that day. During the dinner, the business which takes the most innovative approach to the waste problem will receive the No-Waste Award [in Dutch].
Beter Eten 2011 Organisation
The Beter Eten 2011 Conference will be held in the Brabanthallen (‘s-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands). Date: 7 November. Time: 1:00 p.m.-8:00 p.m. For more information and the programme and to register: www.betereten.nl [in Dutch].
The event is an initiative of the agricultural sector think tank Agro & Co [in Dutch], the agricultural entrepreneurs’ association ZLTO [in Dutch], and Wageningen UR Food & Biobased Research.