Agreements between the food industry and the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport in 2014 to use less salt and sugar have had only limited effect. The RIVM, which was asked to see what would become of it, concludes that “small steps” have been taken, but that the Dutch still consume too much salt and sugar.
It has been achieved in six years that an adult consumes an average of 0.5 grams less salt per day. The RIVM speaks of “a pinch”. People consumed less through bread, meat, cheese and soup in particular.
For sugar, the drop was 7.5 grams, or two sugar cubes, per day. In that area, gains were made mainly in soft drinks and to a small extent in dairy products.
The effect of the agreements on saturated fat has not been calculated because too few agreements had been made about this, says the RIVM.
Too few appointments
An adult Dutch person receives an average of 8.7 grams of salt and 114 grams of sugar every day through food. The standards, says the RIVM, are 6 grams of salt per day and a maximum of 10 percent of the total energy via saturated fat. There are no exact standards for sugar. The advice is to minimize the consumption of biscuits, sweets and drinks with added sugars.
“More could have been achieved if agreements had been made for more products. Or if the amount of salt and sugar in the products had been further reduced,” the RIVM concludes.
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