Bruno Vieira
Reporter - Voice of Brazil

Brasília - A study by the Faculty of Agricultural Engineering of the State University of Campinas (Unicamp) in São Paulo reveals that each year 32 million tons of food produced by the Brazilian agricultural sector end up in the garbage. To alter this situation, the Ministry of Social Development and Hunger Alleviation (MDS), in partnership with the Social Service of Industry (SESI), implanted the Brazil Kitchen - Intelligent Eating project. Around US$ 2.08 million (R$ 5.4 million) will be invested in the project.

The expectation is that, by year's end, 120 thousand people will be benefitted in all Brazilian states. The project is currently serving needy communities in 14 states and the Federal District. The project is effectuated in mobile units that travel around cities administering nutritional education and security courses for the population and training courses for social multipliers, such as the people who prepare school lunches. The trucks have space for classes of as many as 30 people.

In the mobile kitchens people learn about the purchase, preparation, and consumption of food items, as well as acquiring notions of hygiene, nutrition, and health. The recipes are inexpensive and contain high nutritional value, including tips on how to make full use of plant parts, such as peels and stems, thus combatting waste.

According to the director of the Secretariat of Food Security, Marcos Dal Fabro, the project is an instrument to bolster the Zero Hunger Program. "When you provide the population with a project like Brazil Kitchen, the federal government is acting to inform families on how to feed themselves adequately. This is an activity that is part of the Zero Hunger program, dealing with the issue of alimentary nutritional education, " he affirms.

Translation: David Silberstein