2014-2015, Idea of establishing OFSP results from FQH activities

The research association, FQH (Food Quality and Health), was founded as an international multi-stakeholder initiative to enhance research and knowledge transfer on organic food issues. The aim of FQH has been and is to contribute to the development of the Organic Food System (OFS) as a global pilot model (with regionally and culturally appropriate variations) linking sustainable consumption and production. FQH organized two international conferences on this topic in Prague (2011) and Warsaw (2013) where representatives from FAO presented current findings such as the Sustainable Diet (SD) concept. Furthermore, FQH organized member workshops in various European countries developing the organic food quality model and the organic processing concept. In 2013 FQH identified the topic of sustainable diets (SD) and the contribution of the OFS to SD as a future challenge and objective.

Under the 10-Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production Patterns, FAO and UNEP jointly developed an UN program on sustainable food systems (SFSP). On September 15th and 16th 2014 FQH organized a joint workshop in Rome with Agricultural Research Council – Research Center on Food and Nutrition (CRA-NUT) and FAO to elaborate the potential contributions of the OFS to Sustainable Food Systems (SFS) with a special focus on sustainable diets. The outcome of this international workshop is described in the proceedings of the workshop (Meybeck et al. 2015). Based on this the Organic Food System Programme (OFSP) has been developed by bringing together international experts from various backgrounds. As part of the programme the development of an “Organic Diet Concept” has been proposed to gather knowledge on, and identify and/or develop and test tools and indicators contributing to the SFSP of FAO/UNEP as well as IFOAM Int.’s Organic 3.0.