Meat replacement products are gaining popularity in the Netherlands, and with that the sale of actual meat products is decreasing, according to new figures from market researcher IRI Nederland, NOS reports.
Food
Aug 2 '19 11:40
Minister Carola Schouten of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality wants supermarkets to stock more locally sourced products. She believes that a short food chain will strengthen the connection between farmers, conservationists and consumers, and thereby increase consumers' appreciation for food and where it comes from.
The Minister is therefore organizing, in collaboration with the provinces, a special trade mission to make local products more widely known and to stimulate short chains of delivery, Schouten wrote in a letter to parliament.
Jul 24 '19 15:10
Those looking to enjoy the summer weather with a few drinks on a terrace will get away cheapest in Zwolle. Like last year and the year before that, Zwolle is the cheapest terrace city in the Netherlands, according to the annual study by hospitality consultancy Van Spronsen & Partners.
Jul 22 '19 11:10
The originally American beer brand Budweiser is taking on the Netherlands. Starting Monday, the beer will be available in Dutch pubs and restaurants - mainly in the Randstad region, but also elsewhere in the country. From September, Dutch will also be able to buy Budweiser in supermarkets, RTL Nieuws reports.
Jul 11 '19 11:00
In four of the five most popular holiday destinations for Dutch tourists, food is more expensive than in the Netherlands. Only in Spain will Dutch pay less for groceries than at home, Statistics Netherlands reported on Thursday.
Jul 9 '19 09:15
Terrace De Werf in the Zeeland town of Veere is the best terrace in the Netherlands, according to the annual Top 100 ranking by Misset Horeca. Brasa in Purmerend and Pelle's in Deurningen took second and third place. Amsterdam's first spot on the ranking is in 8th place with terrace Barca.
Jun 26 '19 14:00
Restaurant De Librije is back in the top 50 ranking of the best restaurants in the world. The three Michelin Star restaurant in Zwolle was ranked 46th on The World's 50 Best Restaurants list, NOS reports.
Two years ago the De Librije, run by chef Jonnie Boer and his wife Therese, was also on the renowned ranking in 34th place. Last year the Zwolle restaurant just missed the list, making it to 51st place.
Jun 24 '19 08:49
Almost all products on special offer in Dutch supermarkets are unhealthy for the consumer or fall outside the recommended guideline for healthy eating by the Dutch Nutrition Center, supermarket comparator Stichting Questionmark found in a study, the Volkskrant reports.
Jun 20 '19 15:10
The Netherlands has too little insight into food safety hazards and food and consumer safety authority NVWA is not equipped to identify and prevent new health risks, the Dutch Safety Board concluded in an investigation launched following the fipronil crisis in the summer of 2017. The Safety Board calls for a more structured approach to food safety to prevent public health hazards, NOS reports.
Jun 17 '19 13:20
Over the past decade, food prices in the Netherlands increased by 14.5 percent, Statistics Netherlands reported on Monday based on a new analysis of the consumer price index. In May food was 3.8 percent more expensive than in the same month last year, "almost the largest price increase in 10 years", the stats office said.
Jun 11 '19 12:20
Hospitality businesses like restaurants and cafes are increasingly prevalent on Dutch shopping streets, as more and more retailers are disappearing from the landscape due to financial problems. The latest business struggling to cope in the Dutch retail scene is Canadian department store chain Hudson's Bay. Only two years after entering the Dutch market, the parent company is looking to cut back, which may include closing stores.
Jun 10 '19 14:20
Three Amsterdam cafes made it onto top 50 rankings for their food. nNea Pizza serves the 13th best pizza in Europe, outside Italy, according to 50 Top Pizza. And the 9th and 40th best sandwiches in Europe can be found at Toastable and Metropolitain, according to Big 7 Travel's ranking.
Jun 7 '19 17:50
An investigation into the use of sustainable fish at high-end restaurants in the Netherlands determined that most served at least one fish item that could have long-lasting negative impact on the ecosystem. The study, carried out by non-profit organization Good Fish Foundation (GFF), found that 89 percent of restaurants use a fish species that is red-flagged on the organization’s sustainability index VISwijzer.
May 21 '19 16:30
Supermarket chain Albert Heijn plans to step up its fight against food waste with a new system called "dynamic discounts". This involves an electronic price tag that gives customers a bigger and bigger discount the closer a product comes to its sell-by date, NOS reports.
Over the past year, Albert Heijn threw away 1 percent of unsold products because they exceeded their expiry date. That amounts to 63 million kilograms of wasted food. The supermarket chain hopes that the dynamic discounts system can help reduce this.
May 17 '19 11:10
King Willem-Alexander joined an Iftar in the multicultural Transvaal district in The Hague on Thursday night - to the great surprise of the other attendees. Iftar is the evening meal with which Muslims break their daily fast at sunset during Ramadan.
May 7 '19 10:20
Hundreds of products are incorrectly sold as "organic" in Dutch stores. This involves products from over 200 farmers who do not comply with the organic rules on animal welfare, medicine use and the environment, RTL Nieuws reports based on its own study of more than 1,500 inspection reports from regulator Skal.
Apr 30 '19 11:50
Good news for Dutch meat lovers who also want to make a more environmentally-friendly choice with their meals. The plant-based Beyond Burger is now available at over 700 Albert Heijn stores in the Netherlands.
Apr 22 '19 15:10
Supermarket chain Lidl recalled the liter packs of semi-skimmed vanilla yogurt of the Milbona brand. The product may contain metal particles, which can lead to injuries, the supermarket said, the Telegraaf reports.
Lidl removed the product from its shelves and call on customers not to consume the yogurt, but bring it back for a refund. This only concerns the Milbona ’Halfvolle vanille yoghurt’, 1 liter, with the EAN code 20329358, and best-before date 29 April.
Apr 10 '19 17:10
In the coming years Hema will be fully committed to sustainability. Part of that is creating vegan variants for all its most popular products, including the company's iconic smoked sausage, or rookworst as it is known in the Netherlands.
All of Hema's food products will eventually be given a vegan version, CEO Tjeerd Jegen said to Het Parool. The company already offers a vegetarian sausage roll and vegan apple pie. Pastry tompouce is a bit more complicated, but will also be looked at eventually, he said.
Apr 9 '19 16:00
The Netherlands first real Banana Bar will be open for one day only in Amsterdam on April 17th, National Banana Day. To be clear: at this pop-up Banana Bar you can exchange leftover or over-ripe bananas for banana bread.
The Banana Bar pop-up is the initiative of Amsterdam banana bread startup SUNT. The company hopes that the initiative will draw attention to food waste. Bananas are on top of the list of the world's most thrown away product. Every year around 75 billion, perfectly edible, bananas are thrown away, according to Marie Claire.
Apr 9 '19 11:50
Consumers association Consumentenbond wants the Dutch government to introduce the Nutriscore label on Dutch products. Nutriscore is a color-coded label that shows at a glance how healthy or unhealthy a product is, with ratings from A (healthy) to E (unhealthy).
Apr 9 '19 10:10
In 2017 a total of 456 restaurants were placed under extra supervision by the Dutch food and consumer product safety authority NVWA because they were not adhering to the rules on hygiene and food safety. That's over 120 more than in 2014, RTL Nieuws reports based on its own research into NVWA inspection reports.
Mar 27 '19 15:00
The municipality of Rotterdam is working on a Rotterdam Prevention Agreement to encourage Rotterdam residents to live healthier lives. Part of that is discouraging unhealthy diets by countering the opening of more fast food chains, and promoting a more responsible and healthier product range in supermarkets, the office of mayor and aldermen said in response to questions by Leefbaar Rotterdam city councilor Michel van Elck, the Telegraaf reports.
Mar 25 '19 12:00
Organic products in the Netherlands are becoming more affordable, according to a price comparison by consumers' association Consumentenbond. Five years ago organic products were on average twice as expensive as regular ones. Now buying organic is 63 percent more expensive, AD reports.
The association compared 115 products from 13 regular supermarkets and four organic stores.
