At the end of September, the MUFPP Secretariat had the pleasure of visiting South Korea and meet different signatory cities from the country.

On 25-27 September Seoul Metropolitan Government co-organised with WHO the 10th Global Conference of the Alliance for Healthy Cities. The 3-day conference included a whole afternoon dedicated to the 7th Seoul Urban Food International Conference, an annual appointment organised by Seoul in which to discuss food related matters. This year the conference revolved around the theme Providing safe food and creating the healthy food environment for future healthy cities and gathered representatives from different organisations such as WHO, EAT Foundation, IPES Food.

Following the conference, the MUFPP had the pleasure of paying a courtesy visit to Jangseong County, a signatory city of the Milan Pact since 2023. During the 2-day visit the MUFPP Secretariat had the possibility to visit the Jangseong Local Food Direct Sales Store, a supermarket which is jointly owned by the county and the province and sells only locally-grown products.

A total of 700 farmers supply this store, producing around 3,000 different products. Thanks to this project, local farmers not only have the chance to sell their produce, but they also get targeted training about price management and food safety. At the end of the training, they receive a certificate proving their eligibility to sell in the store.

The visit continued to the Sangmu Military Academy where a win-win meal programme is carried out. The programme aims at producing healthy food for soldiers and the planet, while ensuring local production is taken into account.

This very insightful visit was also the occasion of meeting the other signatory cities in South Korea.