`Hundreds of Restaurants Get New 'MedDiet' Label - Olive Oil Times

Hundreds of Restaurants Get New 'MedDiet' Label

By Isabel Putinja
Jul. 13, 2015 10:47 UTC

A new MedDiet Quality Label” has been granted to over 300 restau­rants located in six coun­tries: Egypt, Greece, Italy, Lebanon, Spain, and Tunisia.

The MedDiet label cer­ti­fies that restau­rants offer authen­tic Mediterranean dishes that com­ply with the cri­te­ria which have been estab­lished by MedDiet, an EU-funded project.

The cri­te­ria include:

  • The use of olive oil, prefer­ably extra vir­gin, as the main source of added fat;
  • The use of local and sea­sonal prod­ucts which include fruits and veg­eta­bles;
  • Dishes are cooked accord­ing to tra­di­tional recipes and/or adhere to the main com­po­nents mak­ing up the Mediterranean diet;
  • Transparent infor­ma­tion about the food is avail­able to cus­tomers;
  • Activities are offered pro­mot­ing the ben­e­fits of the Mediterranean diet.

The list of cer­ti­fied restau­rants has not yet been made pub­licly avail­able as of press time. A smart­phone app is cur­rently being devel­oped to help peo­ple find restau­rants which have been granted the MedDiet label.

The MedDiet project aims to pro­mote the ben­e­fits of the Mediterranean diet by edu­cat­ing con­sumers on healthy eat­ing through edu­ca­tional activ­i­ties in schools, estab­lish­ing infor­ma­tion points, and train­ing the staff of local author­i­ties.

Funded by the EU’s Cross Border Cooperation Programme in the Mediterranean (CBCMed), the project also advo­cates for a com­mon legal frame­work to safe­guard and pro­mote the Mediterranean diet.

A recent report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), warned that the Mediterranean diet is going through a decline due to chang­ing eat­ing habits across the region.

Supporters say ini­tia­tives like the MedDiet Label will raise aware­ness about the pos­i­tive health ben­e­fits of con­sum­ing a tra­di­tional Mediterranean diet.



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