Welcome note from EGEA co-chairs
Boitshepo Bibi Giyose – Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), South Africa
Joël Doré – Institut national de la recherche agronomique et de l’environnement (INRAe), France
Can dietary recommendations for fruit and vegetable intake be met within sustainable food systems?
As the co-chairs of EGEA 2026, we are honored to welcome you to the 10th edition of this unique international conference, which continues to place diet, health, and sustainability at the center of multidisciplinary dialogue and action.
This year, EGEA poses a critical and timely question: Can dietary recommendations for fruit and vegetable intake be met within sustainable food systems? In doing so, we embrace the complexity of today’s food systems, which must simultaneously nourish a growing global population, preserve the planet’s resources, and ensure livelihoods and social equity along the entire food chain.
Current scientific evidence leaves little room for doubt: a transformation of our food systems with a shift toward plant-based diets rich in fruits and vegetables is essential to support both human and planetary health. However, the feasibility of achieving such a transformation must be assessed through the lens of the consumer—understanding the economic, cultural, social, and environmental barriers that shape food choices.
In this edition, EGEA adopts a comprehensive “food systems” perspective, giving a central place to consumers’ needs, expectations, and constraints. Through dynamic sessions and a final roundtable animated by consumer associations, EGEA 2026 will:
• Examine health, environmental, social, and economic impacts that achieving fruit and vegetable consumption recommendations could have
• Showcase contributions from multiple disciplines—including social sciences, technology, and public policy—that offer new tools and levers to support the consumer transition;
• Present international innovative projects that aim to reimagine food environments from production to consumption;
• Discuss key challenges and future perspectives of achieving fruit and vegetable recommendations within sustainable food systems, and the responsibility of all actors—from policymakers to health professionals to consumers themselves.
As we gather once again to share evidence, ideas, and solutions, we hope EGEA 2026 will encourage creative solutions and collective action. Because transforming our food systems is not just a scientific imperative, it is also a societal one.