A Universidade para além dos muros: Um relato de experiência em extensão junto a trabalhadores da indústria de transformação no RN

Abstract

The changes in the world of work (longer working hours or double hours, distance from home – work, insertion of women in the labor market) required individuals to adapt to the urban environment, adjusting their eating practices to temporal, spatial and financial issues. It is, therefore, essential that the spaces where food is produced and distributed to workers are effectively appropriate scenarios for the pratice of acttions where the themes of education and Food and Nutritional Security are prioritized, and where the Human Right to Adequate Food is respected and workers become active subjects in promoting their health and quality of life. The present study is characterized as an experience report, which is a methodology that provides the researcher with a margin to report his experiences, concomitantly with scientific knowledge. The FNE actions were carried out by extension workers and academics from the Nutrition Course, from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN), linked to the Project “Food and health of the transformation industry workers in RN”, developed in the last three years as a result of research projects that assessed the nutritional status, health and food of this group of workers. Within the period experienced, moments of planning, assembly and presentation of content, focused on Food and Nutritional Education for workers from two large industries in the state of Rio Grande do Norte, where the objective was to clearly explain the importance of changing eating habits, showing the risks that an unbalanced diet with a high consumption of ultra-processed foods can bring to human health. Thus, it is emphasized that there is a greater appreciation of educational food practices inherent to the appreciation of worker’s health, generating improvements that include companies, workers and the State.