New cabinet must do more to ensure producers stick to healthier eating guidelines

Consumers' association Consumentenbond believes that the future cabinet should do much more in addressing the issue of food producers adding too much salt, sugar, and saturated fat to their foods. According to the association, the Agreement on Improving Product Composition (2014-2020), which was intended to make food healthier didn’t lead to significant improvements in this area, reported ANP.

The Consumers' Association conducted research showing that there is still a lot of work to be done. The Ministry of Health, Welfare, and Sport is currently working on a new approach to improve the quality of food. Because the system will apply for the next ten years, the Consumers' Association wants to make sure stricter principles are applied.

Sandra Molenaar, director of the Consumentenbond, finds that manufacturers can easily make healthier products, but there is hardly any pressure for them to actually do that. Therefore strict legal standards for all product groups are needed, as well fines for manufacturers which don't comply with the new standards.

The Consumentenbond conducted a study which found that half of the 13 tested young cheese brands from the supermarkets got an unsatisfactory mark regarding the level of salt.