Healthy, safe and more sustainable food is an important topic in our society. The Netherlands Nutrition Centre (Stichting Voedingscentrum Nederland) is an independent organisation to which people can turn with any questions they have on this topic.
Specifically, the Netherlands Nutrition Centre seeks to explain the relevance of scientific knowledge and translate it into easily understandable, balanced and practical guidelines and advice. Its popular, regularly updated website (with 32 million visits a year) underscore the Nutrition Centre’s role as a leading authority.
The Netherlands Nutrition Centre encourages consumers to develop and maintain healthy and more sustainable eating habits and the food industry to produce a more sustainable range of food products. Partnering with local professionals and various other relevant parties, we serve as the link that brings them together. The Netherlands Nutrition Centre is funded by the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and
Food Quality and the Ministry of
Health, Welfare and Sport.
Healthy, safe and more sustainable food
Due to internationalisation and economies of scale our food is coming from all over the world. Advertising constantly draws our attention to new and improved products. Scientists are continually gaining new insights. Changes in society are causing our attention to be shifted towards other aspects of food and food consumption. Consumers receive information through innumerable channels, some of which is conflicting. All of this has resulted in a greater need for independent, reliable information about healthy, safe and more sustainable food. The Netherlands Nutrition Centre aims to meet this need.
Healthy
Healthy food makes an essential contribution to a healthy lifestyle. Healthy eating habits are often the best remedy for many of today’s most common health problems. The Wheel of Five is a practical information tool used by the Netherlands Nutrition Centre. If you allow the Wheel of Five to guide your eating habits, your body will get all the nutrients it needs to stay healthy. You also need this balance to achieve and maintain a healthy weight.
Safe
Food safety is another theme addressed by the ‘honest about food’ campaign. It remains important to provide information about safety standards and toxins or pathogens in food, as well as topics in which the consumers themselves play an active part, such as hygiene when purchasing, preparing and storing food.
More sustainable food
Traditionally, food quality topics only addressed such basic themes as healthy food, food safety and food security. As a result of the wide availability of safe and healthy food and increased prosperity, other topics have been added to the food agenda, such as the impact of food on the environment, food waste, animal welfare and fair trade. The activities carried out by the Netherlands Nutrition Centre are designed to generate consumer awareness for these topics, in particular with regard to their own role in the food chain, thus enabling consumers to make better and more conscious choices in this area.