Awareness Message on World Food Day

United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) was founded on 16 October, a date celebrated annually as World Food Day. This year's World Food Day theme, which also marks the 75th anniversary of FAO's establishment, is "Grow, Nourish, Sustain. Together." Yayla Agro Board Chairman Hasan Gümüş, in a statement on World Food Day, highlighted that the pandemic has once again demonstrated to the entire world the importance of food and sustainability, emphasizing the significance of healthy and sustainable nutrition for our future. Gümüş stated: "Through what we eat and our nutrition habits, we can also protect the food of future generations. At Yayla Agro, we are mindful of future generations and produce healthy tomorrows. In our modern facilities, we produce healthy, practical and innovative products to high quality standards and make them available to consumers in Turkey and many countries around the world at affordable prices." [caption id="attachment_105198" align="aligncenter"] Yayla Agro Board Chairman Hasan Gümüş[/caption]

According to United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) data, 690 million people worldwide remain chronically hungry and undernourished. On the other hand, more than two billion adults, adolescents and children are struggling with obesity or being overweight. This situation threatens public health as well as both individual and collective quality of life. Tons of edible food are discarded globally every day. At the global level, 14 percent of produced food is lost in the process from farm to store. A large portion of food is wasted at retail points and by consumers. We are squandering our planet's already limited resources. World Food Day offers us all an important opportunity to review and change our dietary habits. Yayla Agro Board Chairman Hasan Gümüş, drawing attention to the importance of healthy and sustainable nutrition, noted that plant-based nutrition understanding is on the rise globally in an environment where the adverse effects of global warming are increasingly felt, and stated: "Our world is undergoing significant change and global warming places responsibility on everyone from producers to consumers. While animal-based nutrition increases greenhouse gas emissions 20 times more compared to plant-based nutrition, water resources are consumed 20-25 times more. In this respect, by choosing plant-based nutrition, we can protect both our own health and the health of our world.

Particularly to meet protein requirements, we can incorporate legumes with high plant protein quality into our dietary preferences instead of animal-based foods.

Nutrition guidelines published by countries emphasize that consuming legumes at least 3 times a week improves intestinal health thanks to the higher dietary fiber content in legumes, and reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease because they contain no cholesterol. We live in a geography blessed with very fortunate and fertile lands. We must use this advantage well and appreciate the value of our soil and our farmers." Celebrating the heroes at every link of the food chain, Hasan Gümüş said: "On the occasion of 16 October World Food Day, I salute all food heroes who bring us the nutrition we need for healthy eating while protecting our planet. Especially our farmers, with thousands of people's labour involved throughout the journey of food from the field to its final point of reaching consumers. During the pandemic period, as Yayla Agro, we waged an extraordinary effort to ensure that consumers had uninterrupted and rapid access to essential legume products and to prevent disruption of food supply. In our factories, where we took all security and hygiene measures, we worked 7 days and 24 hours to deliver the products that our farmers grew with great effort and care to markets and other sales points. I thank both our own employees and all our business partners and market workers for their dedication during this period. Every link in the food chain bears great responsibility for healthy, balanced and sustainable nutrition. Our company, with awareness of its responsibilities in this area, is committed to continuing its work without interruption so that both today and future generations have access to healthy and sustainable food," he concluded.