The relevance of the dietitian-nutritionist in the food industry, topic of EMENU Industry Symposium

In mid-March, the students of the EuropeanMaster's Degreein Food, Nutrition and Metabolism took part in the Industry Symposium, a meetingin which Antonio Torres, Nutrition & sustainability manager at Danone, and Carmen Monente, director of developmentproducts at Adventia Pharma, spoke. Throughout the session, they detailed the role of the dietitian nutritionist in their companies to publicise the employment rateto which the students of the Master's Degreeoffered by the School of Pharmacy and Nutrition can access in the field of the food industry once they have completed the postgraduate program.

During his speech, Antonio Torres highlighted the role of dietitians-nutritionists in the different teams that make up the company, while giving the example of project"Feeding the change" to promote their role: "This movement has the goalof empowering nutrition professionals as agents of change for promote, in the industry and among consumers, a healthier and more sustainable diet". He spoke about the nutritionist profession in the large businessand detailed the different professional profiles working at Danone Iberia. "86% of new hires are under 30 years old, 211 in 2021 alone, a year in which we will be the second fastest growing businessin terms of attracting students. But our intention is not only to attract, but also to retain young professionals with potential," he explained.

topicTorres also highlighted the role of nutritionists as disseminators, with the capacity to generate change and persuade society to improve eating habits, while focusing on the topical issue of sustainability and nutrition, for which professionals "are an actor core topicin the food chain".

For her part, Carmen Monente explained the workthat develops from a smaller business, which was born in Las Palmas in 2010 and is dedicated to the research, innovation, development, manufacturing and marketing of products for specialised medical use. "We focus on different areas such as clinical nutrition, oncology, aesthetics, healthcare and the creation of medical devices," he said. "We want to improve the quality of life of patients, offering solutions to healthcare professionals, creating new products that reach the market, that are competitive and of the highest quality, for which the work of nutritionists is extremely important".

At the end of the two speeches, the students had an extensive colloquiumwith the guests, who answered different questions about the food sector and the role of nutrition professionals in it.