Each of 50 Weeks in the City of Science<\/a> features a text about selected research in a given subject area carried out by scientists from the universities forming the Academic Consortium Katowice City of Science. The texts we publish give insight into the diversity of issues scientists deal with and show the research potential that is dormant in the universities of the consortium.<\/span><\/p>\n \n<\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>[\/vc_column][vc_column width=”2\/3″]\r\n Food Week is Week #4 of\u00a0<\/strong>50 Weeks in the City of Science<\/strong><\/a>. Many events revolve around the recently completed European research project involving scientists from the Medical University of Silesia in Katowice. The researchers worked under the motto \u2018healthy food for a healthy future.\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n \u2018Eating is an absolutely basic biological need, and an issue of a better quality of life, shaped from an early age. That is why the quality of food children eat at school and nursery school canteens is so important, and we have scrutinised it in our research,\u2019 says Food Week curator Katarzyna Bruka\u0142o, PhD, a clinical dietitian and public health specialist<\/strong> from the School of Health Sciences in Bytom, the Medical University of Silesia in Katowice.<\/p>\n \n<\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n \u2018Eating is an absolutely basic biological need, and an issue of a better quality of life, shaped from the early age,\u2019 says Katarzyna Bruka\u0142o, PhD, Food Week curator | Photo by Victoria Shes, Unsplash<\/span><\/p>\n \n<\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n The main goals of the project called\u00a0Best Re-MaP \u2018Healthy Food for a Healthy Future\u2019<\/a>\u00a0included monitoring and analysis of the quality of food ordered to school and nursery school canteens within public procurement.<\/p>\n Polish policies are very general in this approach. \u2018Although we can read children should eat at least two servings of milk or dairy products every day, we learn nothing about their quality. About whether it will be yoghurts with powdered milk or regular milk with bacteria cultures is decided by a person that makes the public procurement tender,\u2019 explains Katarzyna Bruka\u0142o, PhD.<\/p>\n Therefore, a team of researchers from the Medical University of Silesia analysed over 1000 tenders implemented in Poland between 2022 and 2023. It turned out that only 37% included any criteria, e.g. that yoghurt has to have a specific energy value or composition.<\/p>\n The researchers have developed\u00a0detailed reports<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0a free guide<\/a>\u00a0with scientifically developed criteria for sustainable public procurement, quality criteria for food and tips on professional purchase procedures.<\/p>\n \u2018The publication is a priceless source of knowledge and information for all interested in food purchase for public institutions such as educational or welfare facilities,\u2019 indicates Katarzyna Bruka\u0142o, PhD.<\/p>\n The research will be continued in a different European project<\/a>, the acronym JA-PreventNCD, the main partner of which is the Medical University of Silesia in Katowice. The initiative\u2019s aim is to reduce the incidence and improve the detection and monitoring of chronic and oncological diseases.<\/p>\n \n<\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n There is one more issue related to food \u2013 its waste, or rather reducing its waste; community fridges are a great example of such initiatives. Volunteers help run the fridges, which store food with a short expiry date that those in need can use.\u00a0Grzegorz G\u0142upczyk, PhD, from the USil Faculty of Social Sciences<\/strong>,\u00a0is convinced that social prevention\u2014the topic he deals with scientifically\u2014<\/a>can be combined with the idea of food sharing.<\/p>\n \u2018The backbone of both issues is education and voluntary service. I can see one additional benefit in the idea of food sharing; it gives space to engage minors in work for the sake of one\u2019s local community. It is a way to combine the idea of restorative justice with building social awareness within many areas,\u2019 indicates Grzegorz G\u0142upczyk, PhD.<\/p>\n![\"Widok](\"https:\/\/us.edu.pl\/wp-content\/uploads\/obrazek-wyrozniajacy\/victoria-shes-4MEL9XS-3JQ-unsplash.jpg\")
<\/p>\nSocially and responsibly<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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