The Municipality of Albufeira and the Portuguese Vegetarian Association signed this Wednesday, June 29, a protocol of collaboration with the objective of promoting healthy and sustainable food in the municipality, through the implementation of the “Sustainable Plate” program.
This is an initiative, according to José Carlos Rolo, mayor of the municipality, «extremely important to teach young people to have more sustainable eating habits and to help the Planet».
The initiative starts in the next school year and is aimed at pre-school and 1st cycle schools and aims to "practice a weekly vegetable-based meal day for all students who attend educational establishments, whose canteens are managed by the municipality'.
Meals should, in this sense, be based on protein of plant origin and be completely free from ingredients of animal origin. Likewise, training and educational activities are also planned with regard to improving the preparation of plant-based meals.
In this sense, a team of technicians from the Portuguese Vegetarian Association will work together with the school cooks and organize three workshops with the school community, in order to inform, with proven data, about the importance of a more sustainable diet, both for the organism human or for the planet.
A report on this experience will be made monthly.
As for schools, students have the possibility to choose a vegetarian variant on their school menu.
The program has as main objectives “the reduction of the ecological footprint, as well as stimulating the local economy to purchase fresh and locally sourced products”, says the municipality in a statement.
In this regard, José Carlos Rolo adds that «the predicted crisis in food production and distribution will lead to a change in eating habits, so I am convinced that it will be a very useful project».
According to the mayor, the Prato Sustentável program is «an asset to our county and comes to show the youngest how important this issue of food sustainability is, I also intend to improve the quality of meals in the county, promoting health and primary prevention among the younger population in the school environment".
Albufeira, along with Almada, were the only two municipalities chosen to be part of the project, out of a hundred applications.
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