Spoke 07

Policy, behaviour and education

Smarter behaviors for healthier diets


Spoke leaderMatteo Vittuari
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Highlights

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Outputs
Blog postOct 10, 2024

PARCA Project. Spoke 7 launches a challenge for university students from Bologna and Parma with a final prize


Blog postOct 1, 2024

Eco-Anxiety and Food Choices: Challenges for a Sustainable Diet - Lucia Tecuta (University of Bologna)


Blog postSep 20, 2024

Food Waste on the Rise in Italian Households: Findings from the 2024 Report by the Waste Watcher Observatory


Blog postSep 17, 2024

OnFoods at Capri for the SIDEA Conference, Italian Society of Agricultural Economics


Blog postSep 13, 2024

OnFoods at the Iufost International Food Technology Congress: extensive research, but also public-private research governance strategies


Blog postJul 4, 2024

Childhood Obesity is a public health emergency that can be prevented starting from schools: the Lively project for families, children and teachers


Blog postJun 4, 2024

Policies for Healthy and Sustainable Diets: just published!


Blog postMay 24, 2024

Food Systems research takes center stage in Mantova: highlights from the Food&Science Festival


Blog postMay 13, 2024

"Cibo e Politiche", the new podcast by Spoke 7's Early Career Scientists.


Blog postApr 8, 2024

Preventing and reducing food waste: the new survey aimed at businesses, professionals, and scholars in the agri-food sector


Blog postMar 25, 2024

Scientific Workshop. "The sustainability of food supply chains: theory, tools and empirical analysis"


Blog postFeb 29, 2024

How Do Food Policies Influence Daily Lives, Food Choices, and Health? Are They Sustainable?


Blog postJan 22, 2024

Food Politics and Food Security


Blog postJan 17, 2024

The Paradoxes of Abundance. Dialogue between Marzia Migliora, Marco Clementi, Gianni Del Panta, and Martino Tognocchi.


Blog postMay 19, 2023

Reducing Food Waste through Healthier and More Sustainable Eating Habits


Spoke 07 ‘Policy, behaviour and education’ is centred on developing models and instruments, also digital and technologically advanced, to observe, analyse and forecast agricultural and food policies and the behaviour of businesses and consumers. 

This would allow the planning, implementation, and promotion of public actions, educational paths, and communication campaigns to improve health sustainability by preventing loss, surplus, and waste and enabling more informed food consumption.

OnFoods targets

To promote the sustainability of food distribution
To increase the quality of foods and diets
To guarantee food safety and food security at whole population level and in specific vulnerable targets of the population

SDG’s targeted

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Flagship research projects

Research projectWASTEIT

Observatory waste watcher - Italy


Managed by


Principal investigators

Matteo Masotti,Luca Falasconi,Andrea Segre',Matteo Vittuari

Referred to

Spoke 07
Research projectINFP

Integrated national food policy


Managed by


Principal investigators

Patrizia Borsotto

Referred to

Spoke 07
About Spoke 07

Smarter Behaviors for Healthier Diets

Smart food choices can impact people’s lives. Choosing foods that are nutrient-dense and low-calorie foods helps promote good health. Education is key to making these choices a habit. Learning about the benefits of smart food choices can empower individuals, societies, and communities to impact human and environmental health.

Dietary habits are significantly influenced by a complex interplay of social, economic, cultural, and psychological factors, leading to a diverse food environment and individual consumption patterns. 

Factors underlying people’s purchasing and eating behaviours include individual income, food costs, culinary customs, personal preferences, beliefs, and geographical and environmental aspects, such as the effects of climate change.

Over the past few decades, the consumption of refined carbohydrates, sweeteners, oils, and animal-based products has increased significantly, while the intake of fruits, vegetables, and legumes has decreased largely due to globalisation, urbanisation, economic development, and the availability of processed foods. As a result, unhealthy dietary patterns have emerged, contributing to malnutrition and changes in population health.

W.P 7.1

Understanding determinants and factors underlying food-related consumer behaviour

Work Package 7.1 focuses on understanding the determinants and factors underlying food-related consumer behaviour. The study delves into the economic aspects of food choice and management, considering consumers' behaviour and companies' practices and decision processes. 

WP 7.1 aims to broaden the current knowledge of how dietary choices are influenced by social and cultural elements such as beliefs and norms. It also considers psychological factors such as health, positive psychology, and psychosomatics to provide a more comprehensive understanding of eating behaviours and offer more options for reducing eating-related disorders and promoting well-being.

Furthermore, it analyses the nutritional constraints that impact healthy and sustainable diets. The findings will contribute to developing behavioural models that profile and predict consumers' choices, exploring the mechanisms that encourage the adoption of healthy and sustainable diets and consumption patterns.

W.P 7.2

Interventions for behavioural change for Healthy and Sustainable Diets in selected settings

Work Package 7.2 is centred on behavioural change interventions for sustainable diets in selected settings. This goal is to develop and test strategies to increase the purchase and consumption of healthy and sustainable food, both in supermarkets and alternative food networks, as well as in public canteens and out-of-home settings. 

Therefore, the research activity of WP 7.2 will be carried out in order to co-design and test a set of specific interventions to promote healthy and sustainable eating habits, including reducing food waste. To achieve this, the WP 7.2 team will develop common guidelines and a set of tools for the measurement, monitoring, and evaluation eating and food-related behaviours. These tools will be used to measure the effectiveness of the interventions and make necessary adjustments to achieve the desired outcome. The research aims to engage local users in the co-design and testing the interventions to ensure their feasibility and success in real-world settings.

W.P 7.3

ICT and educational tools for Healthy and Sustainable Diets

Work package 7.3 focuses on developing educational and informational tools to encourage healthy and sustainable diets. To accomplish this, there will be a collaborative effort to identify educational needs in schools and analyse current food education practices.

This task will involve creating culturally responsive food education practices tailored to the identified different needs and promoting technology to raise awareness about healthy and sustainable diets and prevent food waste. Additionally, WP 7.3 aims to promote educational paths that encourage a critical approach towards using digital devices to convey body image, to fight eating disorders in adolescent age groups. The ultimate goal is stimulating active participation from different target groups and promoting healthy and sustainable nutritional behaviours.