The National Food Agency (NFA) has started a campaign to promote eating healthy and delicious food by providing recommendations for the composition of foods on the plate in order to reduce waste.
NFA Head Arief Prasetyo said on Sunday that the campaign aimed to reduce food waste from the farm to the table, was initiated as part of Gelar Pangan Nusantara to mark the 42nd World Food Day.
The campaign is encouraging people to fill one-third of their plates with staple foods (not necessarily rice), one-third with vegetables, one-sixth with side dishes, and one-sixth with fruits.
“Such composition is suitable to meet the standard of expected food pattern as well as energy sufficiency,” he explained.
The campaign is also advising people to eat at least one egg every day to increase their nutritional intake and reduce the prevalence of stunting in children, considering that eggs are nutrient-rich and affordable.
As part of this year’s Gelar Pangan Nusantara, people and stakeholders related to food have been invited to jointly help achieve food security as a pillar for upholding state sovereignty.
“Through this event, we want to make World Food Day a momentum to recharge our spirit in building and strengthening national food,” Prasetyo said.
The event comprises a number of activities such as a series of educational events and several competitions to encourage creativity as well as to entertain – all of which contain messages and campaigns about strengthening food security.
Meanwhile, to ensure that the food security program runs well, Prasetyo has invited stakeholders from the upstream to downstream, along with the pentahelix sector, consisting of academics, businesses, government, community, and the media to continue to strengthen collaboration.
The recent Gelar Pangan Nusantara event held at Brawijaya University in Malang, for example, was a part of efforts to strengthen cooperation between the NFA and the academic sector.
“The NFA as an institution that carries out government duties in the food sector, of course, cannot run alone,” Prasetyo said.
As a concrete collaboration, the NFA and Brawijaya University have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on education, research, and community service in the food sector.
They have also signed a cooperation agreement on synergizing education, research, and community services to improve community nutrition through the diversification of consumption of diverse, balanced, and safe foods.
“The cooperation made during World Food Day is in line with the instruction of Indonesian President Joko Widodo, who is very serious about dealing with food problems. The President has ordered not only to solve macro and micro problems but also to strengthen collaboration,” Prasetyo added.
Meanwhile, deputy governor of East Java, Emil Elestianto Dardak, said that Gelar Pangan Nusantara is an event that seeks to strengthen the spirit of supporting food security programs.
“Through today’s event, let’s invigorate the spirit, supporting the National Food Agency program to make local food more secure from both supply and demand (side),” he said in his speech.
According to Emil, the NFA in the future will aim to maintain a balance, not only by preventing prices from rising but also keeping them from falling.
The rector of Brawijaya University, Widodo, welcomed the Gelar Pangan Nusantara event, which was held on the campus from October 22-23, 2022, saying the university is ready to support the national food security program through the development of innovation and technology.
The event featured several activities including a food expo, food and nutrition symposium, talk show, local food creation cafe festival, cooking demo, business matching, coaching clinic, poster contest, as well a drawing competition for elementary and junior high school students.
Written by: Abdul Hakim, Yashinta Difa, Editor: Fardah Assegaf (c) ANTARA 2022
Source article: https://en.antaranews.com/news/256453/nfa-promotes-healthy-eating-to-reduce-food-waste