Healthy Eating Promotion for the Workplace: the European FOOD (Fighting Obesity through Offer and Demand) Programme Promozione di un'alimentazione sana sul posto di lavoro: il programma europeo FOOD (Combattere l'obesità attraverso l'offerta e la domanda)

Diet related chronic diseases are a key public health challenge. As employees spend a significant amount of their waking hours at work, it is an important place to convey health promotion messages and improve the workers’ eating behaviour. The Fighting Obesity through Offer and Demand (FOOD) programme contributes to this objective by promoting healthy eating habits during the working day. There are two complementary target groups: workers and restaurant owners. The FOOD programme is a public private consortium in nine European countries involving representatives of public health authorities, nutritionists and universities around the lead partner and coordinator the private company Edenred. Here we present the results from a 2018 survey with 25,428 employees and 1,411 restaurants supported by 910 semi-structured interviews (260 face to face and 650 telephone interviews). Key findings include an increase in demand for healthy foods since 2012. There is a tension with the demands for healthy food being accompanied by expectations of a ‘cheap’ and convenient service. The proportion of people taking a mid-day break is approximately 50% across the sample. Lunchtime at work remains an important point for promoting healthy eating among employees. While nutrition is important the promotion of social eating is also important as it introduces other benefits including increased productivity and promotes mental health. For the future restaurant owners and their employees need more support to deliver healthy eating options and to provide more nudges toward healthy eating