Clementines instead of snacks: two young Calabrians' idea to avoid wasting a local delicacy

There is more and more fruit in vending machines di schools e Italian offices: an important fact that certifies an ever-increasing interest in healthy and conscious eating. This is the exact opposite of what is happening in the United States, where President Trump, hiding behind a nonexistent fight against waste, has eliminated from school cafeterias the healthy menus strongly advocated by Michelle Obama in 2010. The former First Lady, with the directive Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act He had ensured that American schools provided their students with fresh fruit and vegetables every day, also increasing the supply of foods based on whole wheat flour and skimmed milk.

FRUIT IN VENDING MACHINES

The new menus wanted by Trump include, instead, more chips and hamburgers and fewer vegetables which, punctually, end up in the garbage. A rather questionable way to combat food waste: it would be more appropriate to promote accurate information that includes not only the risks of a diet rich in fat and calories but also the fundamental need not to throw away food. Not to mention that we're talking about a country, the United States, where theobesity it's a problem that concerns many people 14 million minorsi. And where one in three children è at risk diabetesThe Trump diet, therefore, is certainly not a gift for their health.

ORGANIC FRUIT AND VEGETABLES IN VENDING MACHINES IN ITALY

In our country, however, not only is the supply of healthy foods increasing in schools, but, in many cases, the products in vending machines are organic or come from local, zero-mile companies. As noted by Confida, the trade association that represents the entire food and beverage vending industry at the national level, fruit and vegetable packages sold in 2018 have almost reached the considerable figure of 3 million and 700 thousand.

An excellent incentive to convince children and adolescents to include fruit in their daily diet and a valid solution to address the daily waste of oranges, mandarins, apples and many other types of fresh fruit. As noted by FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations), every year, throughout the world, let's throw it away more than half of fruit and vegetables.

And it is also a way to valorise those typical products that we undervalue and waste, such as Calabrian clementines, a local excellence that too often ends up rotting on the trees, due to the climate, which can influence, in general, the consumption of all citrus products but also due to the economic issues linked to imports and the high costs of harvesting and distribution. 

CLEMENTIME BY ANTONIO BRAICO AND FRANCESCO RIZZO

Hence the idea of ​​two young Calabrians, Antonio Braico, geologist, from Corigliano Calabro and Francesco Rizzo, a filmmaker originally from Padua but raised in San Demetrio di Corone in the province of Cosenza, to combat this waste in an innovative way, transforming clementines into the perfect snack.

In 2015, in the Plain of Sybaris, one of the areas with the greatest production of clementines, where this fruit finds a perfect natural habitat to transform itself into a precious treasure chest of important properties for health, Antonio and Francesco have created Clementine, thanks to which Calabrian clementines arrive directly in schools, offices and gyms in a eco-sustainable packaging composed by two or three fruits. Ideal for a nutritious and healthy break or to end lunch at the office.

CALABRESE CLEMENTINES IN VENDING MACHINES

From tree to consumer: clementines come from organic farming They are harvested and packaged without any processing, so as not to compromise their nutritional properties. They are distributed throughout Italy and also in Switzerland, Germany, and Austria.

In full respect of seasonal rhythms, the Calabrian clementines distributed by Clementime are produced from October to February and marketed through a sustainable and biodegradable packaging made of food-grade cardboard, suitable for refrigeration.

TO KNOW MORE: Franco, Emanuela, and Gianni's idea to turn unsold bread into beer is a way to combat food waste.

ORANGES IN VENDING MACHINES

And since we are in the right season, Clementime has also just started the distribution of the oranges in special packages consisting of two fruits.

The goal for the future is to start a new project with another energetic, nutritious fruit with countless properties at its centre: the Cosenza DOP figA food to be enjoyed raw but also dried or with the addition of chocolate.

An innovative project carried forward, once again, by courageous young people who refuse to give up in the face of adversity but, with strength and determination, find a way to overcome it. This initiative, while combating the waste of a unique fruit and vegetable product, enhances the local area.

(The images are taken from the pages Facebook e Social media coordinator by Clementime)

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