NahWertVoll: Funding for sustainable canteen food

At the German Food Day on the topic of "Healthy and sustainable - eating outside the home and in the community", the Federal Minister of Food and Agriculture, Cem Özdemir, today handed over the funding notification for the pioneering NahWertVoll project. With this project, the Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development (HNEE) and the Studentenwerk Frankfurt (Oder) want to work together to make catering in the university canteens healthier and more sustainable.

Funding for a sustainable nutritional turnaround
The NahWertVoll project aims to show how a healthy diet can be promoted among students. For example, meal planning will be optimised in accordance with the standards of the German Nutrition Society (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Ernährung, DGE), the proportion of organic food and regional products will be increased and food waste will be avoided. In this way, the Studentenwerk will also provide/set impulses for the development of regional value chains.

At the same time, a regional "Sustainable nutrition in communal catering" network is being set up to jointly develop and test innovative measures for implementation in interested communal catering facilities.

"With NahWertVoll, we are taking an important step towards sustainable and healthy communal catering. The close cooperation between the university and the Studentenwerk is a key success factor here," emphasised Sören Hilschenz, Head of University Catering at the Studentenwerk Frankfurt (Oder).

Many years of successful collaboration
HNEE and the Studentenwerk Frankfurt (Oder) can already look back on a successful collaboration. Together with the university's sustainability canteen, a sustainable menu concept was implemented in 2019, which is being continuously developed and focuses on more vegan and vegetarian products, more organic and regional food, as well as avoiding food loss and packaging waste. The two institutions also worked together successfully on the BMEL-funded "GanzTierStark" research project, which established regional value chains for organic pasture-raised beef. This positive experience formed the basis for the joint application to the "Ernährungswende in der Region" competition.

Background
Needs-based, balanced and sustainable community catering is one of the key objectives of the German nutrition strategy "Good Food for Germany". The German food strategy was developed under the leadership of the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture. It includes around 90 short, medium and long-term measures. The German Food Day and the model region competition "Ernährungswende in der Region" are among them. It is planned to fund up to 13 regions in Germany in the competition with an estimated 12 million euros. The food strategy was adopted by the Federal Cabinet in January 2024.

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