Supermarkets do not encourage customers enough to choose healthy food. Too often unhealthy products are promoted in advertisements. This goes against the agreements in the National Prevention Agreement.
These conclusions can be found in the new Superlijst, a comparison study into healthy food in supermarkets, conducted by the research agency Questionmark. ‘Almost all supermarkets, except Dirk, tempt their customers to make unhealthy choices at the checkout. These unhealthy products are often specifically aimed at children,” the report said. And further: ‘None of the investigated supermarkets, except Lidl, make visible whether they comply with the agreements from the National Prevention Agreement to combat overweight.’
Albert Heijn says it does not recognize itself in ‘all results’. “We do a lot in the field of health and we see that a number of initiatives were not included in the study,” said a spokesperson. She points out, among other things, the My Lifestyle Coach app, healthy Allerhande recipes and help to make healthy choices while shopping online. “We are reducing salt, sugar and saturated fat and are continuously expanding the range with products that contribute to a healthier diet, for example by increasing the amount of fiber. In addition, the research focuses on the physical shop floor, while customers are increasingly shopping online. As a result, it does not give an overall picture, which we regret.”
Disappointment
Despite this, Alliance Nutrition for the Healthy Generation (in which the Heart Foundation, Diabetes Fund, MaagLiverDarmStichting and Kidney Foundation are united) is disappointed in the results. The Super List was last presented two years ago, and according to the survey, little progress has been made. ,,You hope for improvement, but there is none”, says chairman Diena Halbertsma.
She calls on the government to make agreements with supermarkets so that they sell more healthy and less unhealthy food and drinks. According to her, legal measures can help, such as a ban on child marketing for unhealthy food, VAT reduction on fruit and vegetables and a sugar tax on sugary drinks.
Dates
According to the alliance, supermarkets do not comply with the National Prevention Agreement. It states that supermarkets encourage their customers to buy products from the Wheel of Five. According to the Superlijst, little of this is happening at the moment: in advertising brochures, more than 80 percent of the products are still not in the healthy category.
The Superlist also shows where there are improvements. For example, Lidl, together with Ekoplaza ‘precursor’, is the only supermarket to publish targets and figures about their performance in the sale of products from the Wheel of Five. “Jumbo and Albert Heijn are making a start, but the definition of ‘healthy’ used is not in line with the agreements of the National Prevention Agreement.”
Healthier
The Central Bureau for Food Trade (CBL), the branch organization of supermarkets, says that a lot is indeed being done to help customers make healthier choices. About the call for a ban on children’s marketing, the spokesperson says: “Supermarkets have already voluntarily implemented this on their private label products and would like to see this also happen on A-brand products.” CBL also supports the call for VAT reduction on fruit and vegetables. .
Jumbo emphasizes in an editorial that the supermarket ‘thinks it is important to help customers make responsible choices and therefore want to make tasty and healthy food easy and accessible for everyone.’ Jumbo also says that it endorses the objectives of the National Prevention Agreement. According to Jumbo, the ranking does not provide a complete picture of what efforts it is making in the field of health. “Within the research, minimal attention is paid to lifestyle. We believe that a healthy diet goes hand-in-hand with a healthy lifestyle. That is why we are committed to promoting a healthy lifestyle, because we believe that seeing movement makes movement.”
Lidl says it is ‘proud’ of the results of the investigation. ‘It recognizes that we as a supermarket have been committed to helping our customers eat healthier for years.’ Aldi was unable to respond to the Superlist yesterday.
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