Choices gaining strength in the Czech Republic

June 7th, 2013

New important partners result in growing importance of the Czech variation of the Choices logo. After the success of the Dutch Choices logo, ‘het Vinkje’,  the Czech equivalent is quickly expanding. The Czech ‘Vím, co jím’ logo for food products and ‘Vím, co piju’ logo for beverages are the youngest from the Choices family. 

The  ‘Vím, co jím a piju’ initiative has been supported by Unilever from the start. Last year, Ahold became partner of the project. More recent, Heineken became supporter of the Czech initiative, with its non-alcoholic beer Zlatopramen N.A. These important partners experienced success in the Netherlands, where the ‘Vinkje’ logo is recognized by over 90% of the Dutch people. 

The Czech initiative has high expectations for the future: “We strive for making logo ‘Vím, co jím’ a broadly acknowledged, respected, transparent, and reliable symbol for the healthy food choice in the Czech Republic’ according to Robert Svoboda, chairman of ‘Vím, co jím a piju’”. 

Eighteen partners have joined the Choices programme in the Czech Republic so far and there are almost 250 products approved to use the logo. 

Read more about this subject at the Netherlands-Czech Chamber of Commerce.

Choices at the World Health Assembly

May 24th, 2013

During WHO’s annual member country meeting, the 66th World Health Assembly in Geneva 20-28 May, infectious diseases and noncommunicable diseases were the two key subjects. Choices had the opportunity to present itself at a side event on public private partnerships.

This event, attended by more than 120 delegates, has been organised by the Dutch government and showed successful cooperation with the food industry in food education (Canada), small scale quick restaurants (Singapore) and front-of-pack labelling (Choices).

Douglas Bettcher, WHO Director of Prevention of Noncommunicable Diseases, indicated that according to the WHO strategy and the NCD Action Plan, the food industry can be a partner in NCD prevention in the fields of product reformulation and consumer information.

Choices on the menu

April 25th, 2013

The findings from an experiment by Gallicano et al. that was conducted on 264 restaurant customers at a full-service a-la-carte restaurant reveal that a majority of consumers (54%) selects a healthier, Choices-labelled menu item when this option is provided in a full service restaurant. Furthermore, people selecting the Choices menu item most often refer to other nutritional information provided with their menu choice. The study provides recommendations to the food industry for directing consumers toward healthier items. This is the first study on Choices labelling undertaken in a full-service restaurant setting. Earlier results of a study by Vyth et al. showed that the Choices label usually does not direct consumers in a self-service cafeteria, with the exception of a small, health-conscious subgroup.

Gallicano R, et al. Consumer Response to Nutrition Information Menu Labelling in Full-Service Restaurants: Making the Healthy Choice, in Joseph S. Chen (ed.) Advances in Hospitality and Leisure (Advances in Hospitality and Leisure, Volume 8), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, pp.109-125.

Vyth EL, et al. (2011). Influence of Placement of a Nutrition Logo on Cafeteria Menu Items on Lunchtime Food Choices at Dutch Work Sites. Journal of the American Dietetic Association, 111: 131-136.

Please click here to access the full study by Gallicano.