On the International Day of Awareness of Food Loss and Waste, European Parliamentary Alliance against Hunger and Malnutrition and the Ministry of Agriculture of Portugal, in close collaboration with FAO, launched a Portuguese version of “Do Good: Save Food!” teaching guides aimed to educate children on food waste and encourage behavioural change.

Initiated by the Portuguese MEP and Member of the European Parliamentary Alliance against Hunger and Malnutrition Isabel Carvalhais, and supported by the Ministry of Agriculture of Portugal, the adaptation of FAO’s “Do Good: Save Food!” educational package to Portuguese stems from the country’s strong commitment to address the issue of food loss and waste at national level in line with the 2030 Agenda.

During his address at the launch event, Maximo Torero Cullen, Chief Economists at FAO, said that “making this training package available in Portuguese will provide the children of Portugal and all Lusophone countries a head start to leading our world to less food loss and waste and therefore a healthier planet and a healthier future”.

FAO has been working closely with the Members of the European Parliamentary Alliance against Hunger and Malnutrition to provide a platform for policy dialogue, exchange and awareness raising on the transformation of agri-food systems. In 2020, with the support of MEP and Member of the Alliance Biljana Borzan, FAO’s “Do Good: Save Food!” were translated into Croatian and disseminated at schools in Osijek city.

In addition to the Portuguese version, the “Do Good: Save Food!” materials are also available in Albanian, Croatian, English, French, Hungarian, Lithuanian, Turkish, and soon also in Macedonian, Romanian, Russian and Ukrainian.

The series of teaching manuals “Do Good: Save Food!” was developed by FAO and International Food Waste Coalition to help children and young people from five to fourteen years old and up to learn in an engaging way about the negative impacts of wasting food and the actions that children can take to reduce food waste and good habits that they can develop and introduce to their friends, families and communities to reduce food waste.

Making the next generation aware of how food waste impacts climate change and the society as a whole and providing them with the knowledge they need to fight it is vital in securing the future we want for them.