Opportunities for health promotion: the knowledge and information system of the Valencian food sector, Spain

Valencia (Spain) is participating in the international ‘SUPER project’, which promotes healthy eating behaviour. This project is carried out on local and regional levels to support activities and policy decisions. To facilitate the development of this project as an intersectoral collaboration between organisations and associations of different sectors related to nutrition, the knowledge and information system of the food sector in the Valencia region was assessed, using the ‘rapid appraisal of agricultural knowledge systems’ method (RAAKS). Key persons of organisations and institutions of eight sectors related to the food sector were interviewed: research, education, food production and distribution, the health sector, consumers, policy-makers, consumer organisations and mass media. Through the analysis of the interviews, knowledge types related to nutrition were located and relationships identified. The ‘matrix de impactos cruzados multiplicación aplicada a una clasificatión’ (matrix of cross impact; applied product to a classification) or MICMAC technique was used to determine the organisations in which interventions would have the biggest impact. The results showed that little contact exists between key organisations, and that the exchange of information among organisations needs to be improved. The research underscored the general interest and willingness of the interviewees to work together, and identified two institutes as ideal stimulators of the project. The constraints that became obvious were: (i) thelack of contact between organisations linked to the food sector; (ii) that the research institute (Valencian School of Public Health: IVESP) was the main driving force behind the project, rather than a consortium of participating organisations; and (iii) the lack of involvement of food producers. In two workshops in which the eight sectors were represented, the results were presented and the opportunities and constraints discussed. As a result, the sector representatives formed a steering group which elaborated general guidelines for healthy food promotion programmes and recommended the use of the already established Regional Healthy Cities Network as a framework for the project to guarantee the cities' interest in the health of their population and to encourage the establishment of healthy food policies at a local and regional level.