Food4Health project was officially presented in Puglia Region on 16.12.2019, during a Press Conference organized by CIHEAM Bari (PP4) and Puglia Region – Department Health Marketplace (PP5) at the presence of representatives of CIHEAM Bari, Puglia Region, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Albania, Molise Region, Italian stakeholders, researchers, journalists, etc.

The event took place at the premises of the Presidency of Puglia Region and the conference was opened by Felice Ungaro, Director of the department of Health MarketPlace (Presidency of Puglia Region Government) that spoke about Agro-food production and sustainable diets in the territory for the health of the consumer and the well-being of citizenship, focused on the Project "The Apulian lifestyle: for a happy life" of the Puglia Region. He highlighted the importance to reduce the cost of public health system through the prevention of non-transferable diseases.

Then, Claudio Stefanazzi, Cabinet Chief of the Puglia Region Presidency, addressed his greetings to partners and points out how the project has a relevance for our Region, to improve the production and  technology, transferring, sharing and adoption of European quality standards for processing and enhancement of typical and traditional food and fisheries products, and to improve the consumer health.

Maurizio Raeli, Director of CIHEAM Bari, introduced target area of Puglia Region chosen for Food4Health Community Lab, Tricase, and focused on Food4Health electronic platform, an important ICT tool for sharing information and knowledge and for creating collaboration between young people, businesses, research centres and other key players. It is an advanced tool and service to promote quality food and consumer health.

Carlo Chiuri, Major of Municipality of Tricase, the target area chosen for the construction of the Food4Health community Lab in Puglia region, underlined how importance is this project for community of Tricase and above all for young people that in a small city very often decide to emigrate for lack of job.

Evelina Vicoci, Project Manager of Lead Partner, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development of Albania, thanked for the hospitality and important collaboration of Puglia region given today to Project Partners, and spoke about the state of art of the project, the activities already done and the next ones.

After the press conference, started the launch event of the Food4Health project with the Workshop: “Agriculture, Nutrition and Well-being in the framework of FOOD4HEALTH Project”.

The workshop was moderated by Gianluigi Cardone, scientific administrator of CIHEAM Bari, introducing the following speakers:

 Agnese Dell’Abate, project manager of CIHEAM Bari, presented in details the project: an overview on aims, activities, ICT Platform, timeline, resources and a particular section was dedicated to Food4Health community lab with Vito Ferramosca, the engineer that are following  the executive project, that showed some details and technical picture on the reconstruction of site and the timesheet. The second part of the workshop was dedicated to the best practices about territorial development, Programme “Agricoltura and Qualità” of Puglia Region for the enhancement and sustainability of typical and traditional products. Vincenzo Lorusso, technical expert of CIHEAM Bari, presented the overview of the above Programme, highlighting the aims, the results, and the opportunities for Food4 Health. Evelina Vicoci, Project Manager of Lead Partner, showed the Albanian Integrated Development Programme, the case of 100 villages.

At the conclusion of the workshop, some participants (farmers, fishermen, researchers) intervened by the public and underlined their interest to participate and to contribute to the next events for the implementation of Project.