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Barely a year after the last lockdown, the call for a catering closure is getting louder again. Research shows that the number of overweight young people has increased alarmingly since the reopening of the catering establishments.

After a hard lockdown of several weeks, catering companies were allowed to open their doors again at the end of January 2022. The number of overweight young adults has risen sharply since then. No fewer than 25 percent of Dutch young adults are overweight. That appears from figures from Statistics Netherlands. According to nutritionist Elsbeth de Lange, the cabinet has not taken sufficient account of the consequences for health when relaxing the corona measures.

“The relaxation has created a situation in which young people can go to the pub and the snack bar again unhindered. We are now seeing this reflected in the obesity figures,” said the nutritionist. “In retrospect, we unfortunately have to conclude that the reopening of the catering industry was a wrong decision. Catering companies have had another chance, but unfortunately it did not work out well.”