European countries are learning from Danish whole grain expertise
Today, Danes eat 82 grams of whole grain on average per day. Back in 2007 the number was only 36 grams on average of whole grain per day. The Danish Wholegrain Partnership has existed for 10 years and make a targeted effort to improve public health by getting the Danes to eat more whole grain.
The strength behind the partnership is that it consists of both food authorities, health NGO´s and the food industry, that are all working for the same cause and are contributing with their respective strengths and skills. There are now 1097 products with the orange whole grain logo, while there were only 150 products back in 2009.
The European Union has now become aware of the Danish “whole grain model” and rewarded The Danish Wholegrain Partnership earlier this year as a “best practice example” for EU. Now, Denmark is coordinating a three-year project as from 2020 that will facilitate the transfer of the Danish best practice model for a whole grain partnership to Romania, Slovakia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. More countries will later get the opportunity to follow the project that is funded by EU.
Mutual benefits for public health
In The Danish Wholegrain Partnership there is excitement about EU´s decision: “We are looking forward to sharing our experiences and the tools we have developed with other EU-countries, to benefit the public health for even more people. At the same time, we look forward to an informative process, that can give us new inspiration. It is going to be interesting to get insights into the different countries’ diets and signature dishes, and where wholegrain has a part to play”, says Rikke Iben Ness, Campaign leader for The Danish Wholegrain Partnership.
The Ministry of Environment and Food of Denmark will become the main coordinator for the EU-project, which has already resulted in a meeting with the projects participants. Later, there will be arranged summer schools, development meetings and individual coaching, that seeks to motivate the formation of new partnerships in the respective countries.