Barilla picks top sustainable food ideas

(ANSA) - Rome, May 15 - The Barilla Center for Food and Nutrition(BCFN) has launched the fourth edition of a competition to select the best ideas on strategies to feed the world in a sustainable manner from researchers and university students under 35 from around the world.
    The final stage and award ceremony of the BCNF Yes! competition for innovative solutions in the agrofood sector are scheduled after the summer in Milan to coincide with the food-themed Universal Exposition, which ends on October 31.
    The banner of Milan Expo 2015 - Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life - is in line with the competition's objective to fight malnutrition, promote a healthy lifestyle, sustainable food production practices and prevent food waste.
    The award winners, either an individual or a team, will receive a prize of 10,000 euros to bring their idea to fruition in a concrete manner All finalists will also participate in the Seventh International Forum on Food and Nutrition to be held at the fair's Italian pavilion on October 23.
    The finalists will become part of a community of alumni so they can continue to carry out research and raise awareness on food sustainability, supported by top experts in the sector.
    Applications for the 2015 competition can be submitted on the website www.bcfnyes.com where rules can also be downloaded. The deadline to submit proposals for the competition is May 31.
    Last year's winner was Gianna Bonis-Profumo, a Spanish national of Italian heritage, who lives and studies in Australia. Bonis-Profumo submitted a project called 'Food and Nutrition Hub - Integrated Food Production and Nutrition Education' to counter high malnutrition levels in rural areas in south-east Asia through a system of family gardens cultivated according to sustainable practices. A number of BCFN YES! finalists from the 2012 and 2013 editions of the award have been selected by the Barilla Foundation to cooperate with the initiative Call to Action Milan Protocol to draft and promote the key document.
    The Protocol is one of the documents that contributed to the Milan Charter, which highlights the guidelines the Italian government will follow to promote a more sustainable food system worldwide during the six-month Expo.
    The BCFN Foundation has also decided to organize a space for the most promising young researchers - the BCFN YES! alumni group - to offer networking, coaching, and mentoring opportunities for young people so they can learn more about the Foundation's research topics and methods.