90+ organizations come together to translate EAT-Lancet science into practical policy recommendations for EU leaders.
BRUSSELS, BELGIUM – Today, a coalition of more than 90 organizations representing different parts of the food system – from farmers, food manufacturers, and retailers to food services, public health organizations, cities, and consumer groups – launches the EU Policy Action Brief: Building a healthy, sustainable, and just EU food system, inspired by the science of the EAT-Lancet Commission.
ProVeg International is among the organizations bringing together perspectives from across the food system to identify shared priorities for policy action. While the participating communities have different perspectives and priorities, they identified several shared interests, showing that meaningful policy change towards a healthier, more sustainable, and more just food system is both necessary and achievable.
This landmark policy brief results from a unique collaborative effort facilitated by EAT, Physicians Association for Nutrition (PAN International), The Protein Project, BirdLife Europe, FEAST, Convene, and Fern, to translate scientific evidence into concrete policy recommendations for the EU.
A food system under strain
Europe’s food system faces growing pressures, including diet-related diseases and rising public healthcare costs, increasing economic pressures on farmers, heat, droughts, floods and wildfires, rising food prices for consumers, and import dependencies from third countries.
Against this backdrop, the coalition highlights the food system as a powerful lever for positive change.
The policy brief draws on the scientific vision, definitions, and guardrails established by the 2025 EAT-Lancet Commission to help guide healthier, more sustainable, and more just food systems. It focuses on progress across three key areas:
- Sustainable Production
- Healthy Consumption (guided by the Planetary Health Diet)
- Reduced Food Waste and Loss
Six critical policy packages for action
The EU Policy Action Brief draws on shared insights from food system communities responding to a central question: which policy changes could help you make progress faster? These insights have been grouped into six overarching and actionable policy packages for EU policymakers.
- Value Chain Development – Strengthen sustainable production and consumption of healthier and more sustainable foods, reduce food waste and loss, and enable better collaboration across the value chain.
- Fiscal and Economic Support – Support farmers and other actors in their transition and improve food affordability and food environments.
- Public Procurement – Encourage public institutions to procure healthier, more sustainable, and more just food, creating stable demand and greater market confidence.
- Information, Transparency, and Trust – Create clear and consistent rules on labeling, advertising, and campaigns to inform choices.
- Research, Innovation, and Knowledge Sharing – Invest in research, innovation, knowledge sharing, and pilots that can accelerate food system adaptation.
- Trade and Market Rules – Ensure fair trading practices in the EU single market, align imported products with EU social and environmental standards, and harmonize fortification rules.
Across all six Communities for Action, one consistent message emerges: they are ready to act and are already making progress, but need coherent, aligned, and cross-sectoral EU policy action and an enabling policy environment. This includes incentives, the removal of structural barriers, enabling standards, coherent rules, public investment, and institutional legitimacy.
A call for political leadership
The participating communities are calling on EU institutions to establish an EU Action Plan for a healthy, sustainable, and just food system, delivering it coherently while actively involving scientists and food system communities in its design, implementation, and evaluation.
Lucia Hortelano, Senior EU Policy Manager at ProVeg International, said: “Europe’s food system is at a critical juncture. We have the science, and we have growing momentum across the food system for change. What is needed now is an EU policy framework that enables farmers, businesses, public institutions and consumers to make healthier and more sustainable choices. This Action Brief shows that there is broad common ground on the policies needed to move Europe’s food system in the right direction.”
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Contact details for press officers:
Gemma Chapman | Senior International Communications Manager, ProVeg International | [email protected]
Editor’s notes:
- About ProVeg International: Our vision is a world where the food we eat is good for all people, animals, and our planet. Our mission is to accelerate the transition to a sustainable global food system by making plant-rich foods and alternative proteins more accessible and appealing.
