Dutch Choices Foundation launched new criteria

July 22nd, 2015

After some months of revising by the National Scientific Committee, the Dutch Choices Foundation (Vinkje) recently launched its new product criteria. The revision is in full coherence with the revision of the international criteria and raises the bar for salt, added sugar, saturated fat and dietary fibre. Consequently, several hundred products that complied with the ‘old’ criteria, now have to be reformulated into healthier product to keep the Choices logo. The Dutch food industry has till the first of January 2017 to improve their products.

An overview of the new criteria (in Dutch) can be found here. An infographic with more information on the changes in products can be found here (in Dutch).

Revision
The criteria are revised every four years by independent food and nutrition scientists. The aim is to challenge producers to improve their products, thereby becoming healthier step by step. The scientific commission looked into the composition of products and the opportunities to decrease their levels of saturated fat, sugar, salt and energy. “There is still much to gain to improve the food environment. The dietary energy density needs to be lowered and the amount of saturated fat, added sugar and salt have to be reduced. At the same time, and that is the challenge, it is important that the improved products are still tasty. There lies the difficulty, as fat, sugar and salt bring flavour to the food” says professor Kees de Graaf, chairman of the scientific committee.

For more information see www.hetvinkje.nl (Dutch)  

Choices Article on Food Composition Data

July 10th, 2015

Léon Jansen (Choices International Foundation) and Annet Roodenburg (HAS University of Applied Sciences) recently wrote an article on the use of food composition data in the International Choices Programme, that has now been accepted by Food Chemistry.

Food composition data have been used extensively both in the development of nutrient criteria to determine when a food can carry the Choices logo, as well as in the calculation of the potential impact of the Choices Programme. The article provides detailed information on the steps to organise and complete product composition data, as well as the use of these data and the results. The authors conclude with a call for food industry, retail and catering: by providing food composition data, they can contribute to the research on product development, food intake calculations and the evaluation of initiatives to stimulate a healthier lifestyle.

Read the full article here: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308814615009747

New Toolkit for Responsible Labelling

June 24th, 2015

New York, 24 June 2015.

Today the Consumer Goods Forum has launched its Health & Wellness Toolkit at its Summit in New York. The Toolkit is a practical help for companies to realize the Consumer Goods Forum ambitions to contribute to consumer health. The ambitions on health related labelling are: to have a nutrition panel back-of-pack, energy information front-of-pack and to cooperate with further labelling initiatives that are supported by national governments. A reference is made to the Choices logo as well as the Keyhole, Finnish Heart and Singaporean Healthier Choice labels as an example of these further labelling initiatives.

Laurent Chastain, Head of the Corporate Wellness Unit, Nestlé Group, and Co-Chair of the CGF Health & Wellness Steering Committee, said "The practical examples show exactly what can be done today and we look forward to continuing to grow this list to support the wider membership and accelerate the implementation of our commitments”.

Read the full press release here.