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World experts join dots between food and health

August 28th, 2018 12:22 PM

By Southern Star Team

Darina Allen, chef and co-owner of Ballymaloe Cookery School.

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World experts will outline the established link between our health and what we eat, as part of next month's A Taste of West Cork Food Festival. 

BY EMMA CONNOLLY 

WORLD experts will outline the established link between our health and what we eat, as part of next month’s A Taste of West Cork Food Festival. 

A day-long forum called ‘Our Farms, Our Food, Our Future’ takes place in the Town Hall, Skibbereen on Saturday September 8th from 10.30am to 6.30pm.

Nutritional therapist Majella O’Neill and organic farmer Madeline McKeever are organising the forum which will be of interest to farmers, food producers, chefs, health professionals and anyone interested in exploring food and health. Majella and Madeline are committed to highlighting the vital connection between food choices, how we grow and produce food and our health and well-being.

Majella said: ‘We hope this discussion will find ways forward for Irish farmers and food producers to lead the way on the world stage toward a more sustainable health promoting model of food production that will truly nourish us into the future.’

She added: ‘Here in Ireland we have a culture of relatively small diverse holdings and a growing lucrative artisan food industry incorporating many health promoting principals. Ireland’s farming and food industry is perfectly poised to lead the way on the world food stage, and capiatalise on a growing consumer sentiment by embracing food production standards  that give real, dependable assurances to consumers as to the quality and health benefits of our food products.’

Speakers include Professor Giles Eric Seralini Seralini, professor of molecular Biology, Caen University, France and author and researcher on effects of pesticide and GMO; Dr Fiona Crispie, technologist, Teagasc and Dr Laura Boyle, animal scientist with Teagasc.

Jérome Douzelet, hotel and restaurant owner in the South of France, who cooks organic meals and knows how to detoxify chemicals in food through particular culinary methods and use of detoxifying ingredients will also address the forum along with tireless campaigner Darina Allen, chef and co-owner of Ballymaloe Cookery School.

Ib Pedersen, a pig farmer who discovered when he stopped feeding genetically modified soya to his pigs that there were immediate improvements in their health and fertility, and who is now working with the Danish Department of Agriculture to combat the use of pesticides in food crops, completes the impressive line-up. 

• Tickets for the event cost €25  and are available from eventbrite.ie

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