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TAO Conference 2021

29 November 2021

On February 26th, 2021, SAFE hosted the virtual conference “Tackling Adolescent Obesity: How to make a shift towards healthier behaviours”.


The conference aimed at presenting achievements from the TAO Project, all-the-while reflecting on the growing issue that is childhood and adolescent obesity across Europe and on potential solutions to halt the phenomenon.  Speakers first reminded that is obesity constitutes a multi-faceted issue, where consumer choices are undeniably shaped by political decisions, food reformulation, marketing tactics, and many other factors. Tackling obesity thus require a multi-level response from the EU (via the Farm to Fork Strategy), governments (legislating on unhealthy marketing or display in supermarkets, taxing high in fat, sugar and salt foods…) or NGOs (awareness-raising campaigns). 

Panelists included: 

  • Natasha Foote (agri-food and health reporter at EURACTIV, conference moderator)
  • Floriana Cimmarusti (Secretary General, Safe Food Advocacy Europe)
  • MEP Francisco Guerreiro (Greens/EFA, European Parliament)
  • Stephanie Bodenbach (DG SANTE, European Commission) 
  • Teachers & students from Liceo Scientifico Enrico Fermi, Italy & Doukas School, Greece 
  • Emanuel Mian (Clinical Psychologist)
  • Avril Flynn, on behalf of Sabina Bietolini (Registered Dietetician) 

On the TAO Project 

Project partners and student representatives were present to inform participants of the outcome of the nutrition trainings carried out as part of the  “Tackling Adolescent Obesity and promoting inclusion through nutrition trainings for disadvantaged youth” project. Also known as TAO, this Erasmus+ project ran from September 2018 to February 2021, involving 9 partners from 5 different countries (Belgium, Italy, Greece, Germany, and Poland). 

TAO was created to develop a transnational common strategy to tackle adolescent obesity and promote inclusion in the school environment. Intellectual outputs included:  a teacher handbook (providing teachers with tools to design interesting nutrition classes), a student handbook (i.e. a guide toward healthy body and mind for students), an interactive online platform providing eating, exercise and wellbeing tips for students, together with other tools such as quizzes or recipes).

To find out more about the project, head over to the TAO project website (available in FR, IT, EN, EL) or to SAFE’s Youtube Channel

The conference replay is available below: