Food Choice Logo Standardized in The Netherlands

This new stamp will not only enable consumers to make healthy selections more easily and rapidly, but will also encourage supermarkets, caterers and manufacturers to further improve their products.

3/3/2011 --- Stichting Ik Kies Bewust (the Dutch affiliate of the Choices International Foundation) and the Albert Heijn supermarket chain have agreed to start using a single national food choice logo. Albert Heijn’s Keuze Klavertje (Choice cloverleaf) and the Ik Kies Bewust stamp (Dutch Choices stamp) have therefore been combined to form a new food choice logo for The Netherlands, which will be gradually introduced over the course of 2011.

Two years ago, discussions aimed at creating a single logo for The Netherlands began between Stichting Ik Kies Bewust and Albert Heijn. Now, with Albert Heijn’s affiliation to Stichting Ik Kies Bewust (a cooperation between supermarkets, manufacturers and foodservice companies) and the combination of their two existing logos, an approximate 6600 Dutch products will carry the new stamp.

This new stamp will not only enable consumers to make healthy selections more easily and rapidly, but will also encourage supermarkets, caterers and manufacturers to further improve their products. The basic principle of the new stamp remains the same: the fat, salt, sugar energy and dietary fibre content of products carrying the stamp have been evaluated.

The new stamp will have two variations: green and blue.

The green stamp with ‘gezondere keuze‘ (healthy choice) represents the healthy choice within a category of basic products. These basic products including bread, milk, fruit and vegetables are essential to a healthy diet. The blue stamp with ‘bewuste keuze’ (conscious choice) helps to select healthier options within non-basic product categories, including soups, sauces and snacks.

Ultimately, both variations of the stamp help consumers to make more informed choices within all product groups from meat and bread to snacks and sauces. This in turn encourages healthier product innovation within the entire range of available food products.

Products carrying the new stamp must meet a set of nutritional criteria. These have been developed by an independent Scientific Committee and are aligned with the official Dutch Guidelines for Food Choice published by the Netherlands Nutrition Centre. As Boudewijn Breedveld, Interim Director of the Centre states: “Clear dietary information is of vital importance to consumers, and this has been achieved with the harmonisation of the criteria and the single logo.”