After the first article on the Special Mentions for Governance of our series on the Milan Pact Awards 2025, we now continue our journey through the practices that received Special Mentions in Sustainable Diets & Nutrition Category of the MUFPP Framework for Action.
This year, the Special Mentions for Sustainable Diets & Nutrition were awarded to the cities of Baltimore, Turin, Quezon City and Berlin, each demonstrating and promoting sustainable diets, better consumption and healthier nutrition.
BALTIMORE: “FOOD IS MEDICINE”
Food and Medicine? Baltimore rightly thinks they’re one and the same
Baltimore’s approach for their Sustainable Diets & Nutrition action starts, surprisingly, from hospitals where MedStar Health provides clinically relevant and healthy ingredients to diabetes patients fighting food insecurities as well.
Ingredients are sent via food trucks comprising recipes which are then shown together with cooking techniques, kitchen tools and access to a food pantry in biweekly meetings in a MedStar Collaborative Care Program, and, additionally, a gym membership is given to increase physical activity.
The reasoning behind the particular focus on diabetes and food insecurity can be easily traced to the percentage of people facing this issue (18% of Baltimore residents face food insecurity) and diabetes is the city’s sixth leading cause of death.
As the program expanded, more people have taken part in the activities, reaching the number of 451 between patients and people at high risk of living or already experiencing diet-related diseases. Notably racial disparities in diabetes outcomes dropping by 51.1%, patients over the advisable BMI dropping, on average, 7,1 pounds with dietary nutritious meals and physical activity.
“Treat[ing] food as a core part of healthcare, focusing on prevention and root causes rather than symptoms” is one of the most exemplary quotes from Baltimore’s action as it aligns with the needs of patients living in Healthy Food Priority Areas (HFPA), especially when these people are disproportionally burdened by racial, economic and geographic disparities.
Read the full practice of Baltimore: Food is Medicine
TURIN: “TURIN SCHOOL FEEDING PROGRAM”
Right to Food: reforming Turin’s school meal systems with an ethical and equitable approach
Turin’s school meals system has been revolutionized. Thanks to an EU-wide open procedure, the city combined the need for ethically sourced products and healthy and appealing meals, putting back people at the core of the question: people with different cultural and medical eating needs, workers being treated fairly and bettering their working conditions and encouraging producers to make organic, local, short supply chain and seasonal products.
Ranging from 35,000 to 40,000 daily meals across 335 schools, Turin’s program encompasses nutritious meals, having a special regard for individualized diets. The range of people and quantities of food are enormous: processing more than 3,000 tons of food each year and employing more than 1,500 workers ranging from farmers, livestock breeders, transporters to maintenance staff.
Finally, goals of sustainability, equity, education and health have been all at the core of Turin’s program, while also acknowledging that school meals are among the most economically, socially and environmentally impactful public services. This has resulted in the Turin’s Statute now explicitly mentioning the right to food for all.
Read the full practice of Turin: Turin School Feeding Program
QUEZON CITY: “CULTIVATING A SUSTAINABLE PLATE”
The Policy that changed everything about nutrition in Quezon City, Philippines
Quezon City’s Healthy Public Food Procurement (HPFP) Policy started in 2021, when the realization that 69% of deaths in the Philippines stemming from non-communicable diseases hit, originating primarily from unhealthy eating habits and dietary risk factors.
Shifting to healthier dietary choices and using more sustainably sourced products were two key factors of the policy implementation.
Quezon City shifted the focus on the people, a trend that has been notably present in other actions as well, especially focusing on people who are nutritionally at risk. Putting people like expecting mothers, youth in public elementary and high schools, and patients in public hospitals back at the center of city policies.
A commitment by the city has been put out to stop “Public Funds spent on Unhealthy Food”.
Read the full practice of Quezon City: Cultivating a Sustainable Plate
BERLIN: “KNOW WHAT TASTES GOOD!”
Shaping Tomorrow’s Food Culture: How Students Are Learning the Power of Sustainable Nutrition
Adolescence is a decisive stage in shaping lifelong eating habits—and the environments where young people grow up play a crucial role. In schools, where choices are often influenced by peers and daily routines, student-run food initiatives such as cafés and small processing ventures can become powerful engines of change. Yet while the regional food industry urgently needs skilled workers, many students remain unaware of the meaningful and diverse career paths it can offer.
This innovative project opens the door to a new understanding of food, sustainability, and professional opportunity. By stepping “behind the counter” of an organic bakery or into the fields of local eco-farms, students and teachers gain firsthand insight into the value of regional, organic supply chains. Food becomes more than a product—it becomes a story of people, craft, and responsible choices.
Through free excursions across the food chain, hands-on cooking workshops, and interactive learning modules, Berlin’s student companies experience sustainability in action. Teachers, too, are empowered through specialized training in green learning centres, supported by high-quality teaching materials that bring nutrition education to life.
Read the full practice of Berlin: Know What Tastes Good!
Special thanks to Laura Marino, MUFPP Intern, for writing this article.
