Edenred Romania, in partnership with the Association of Private Schools (ASP) and Sergros Romania, organized the first nutrition education workshop of the year in Timisoara. The workshop aims to help chefs prepare healthier and more attractive meals for children. The event was attended by 50 chefs from public and private schools in the county and was organized by Sergros, a partner active in educational projects in the culinary field.
The initiative is part of the “Meals and Lessons” program, an intersectoral partnership model between Edenred Romania, the Association of Private Schools (ASP) and the Association for Values in Education (AVE), launched in 2023. The program aims to support educational institutions in their systematic education reform efforts and ensure that school and kindergarten students have access to hot meals and healthy nutrition.
“Of the 17,026 public educational institutions for the 2022-2023 school year, only 1,855 have a school canteen that serves hot meals to students. However, these meals were not always healthy, as the nutritional value of the dishes prepared must be taken into account. After successfully training the first 50 school chefs in the capital last year, we are renewing our commitment to the long-term support of healthy eating in kindergartens and schools and will now organize a new workshop dedicated to training chefs, in Timişoara. Through this initiative, we aim to raise awareness about the need for balanced nutrition for children and create a space for dialogue to make a practical and effective contribution to increasing the capacity of schools to provide balanced meals to students in educational institutions.” stated Lelia Mancas, Director of Marketing, Communications and CSR, Edenred Romania.
The course material for the Nutrition Education Workshop is the “Healthy Recipe Guide for School and Kindergarten Students”. The guide is the result of extensive collaboration between nutritionists, doctors and chefs and provides practical and valuable support to educational institutions promoting a balanced and nutritious diet for preschoolers and students. The material contains information and recommendations on healthy eating for children, as well as 50 nutritionally balanced recipes for school canteens, serving as true menu models in line with expert standards. The recipes are scientifically documented in dietary surveys and categorized by age groups. In addition, they also contain nutritional labels, making them easy to adopt in school canteens as well as catering companies serving educational institutions. The guide is available online for all schools in Romania.
The “Masă și clasă” programme is in line with the European public policy of ensuring children have access to healthy food through hot meals in schools and is part of the social responsibility strategy of the Romanian FOOD (Fighting Obesity through Provision and Demand) programme. FOOD is the largest European public-private programme promoting healthy eating habits among employees and students (nationwide) and is coordinated by Edenred in 10 EU countries. In Romania, FOOD was launched in 2018 by Edenred under the auspices of the Public Health Department of the Romanian Presidency, in partnership with the National Institute of Public Health and the Bucharest-Ilfov Association of Family Doctors.
