Are you wondering where to do your shopping for the most nutritious food options? A selection of Dutch supermarkets has been ranked from healthiest to least healthy, determining that they are still encouraging consumers to eat unhealthy foods too often.
As part of an initiative by the think tank Questionmark and various health organisations in the Netherlands, Superlist Health (Superlijst gezondheid) has released its third edition of the healthy supermarket ranking. The study looks at the seven largest supermarkets in the Netherlands and compares them based on their contribution to a healthy food system.
The Wheel of Five is an official information model developed by the government that provides a guideline on five food groups that should be included in daily meals for a healthy diet and is used as a yardstick to see how supermarkets are performing. The categories that the supermarkets are scored on are their company objectives, product ranges, percentage of offers with healthy foods, and how the stores are laid out.
In 2018, supermarkets in the Netherlands signed the National Prevention Agreement promising to take measures that would help shoppers make healthier food choices. However, according to Questionmark, 83 percent of special offers in grocery stores were for unhealthy products and no more than 43 percent of products were from the Wheel of Five.
Despite the agreement, the commitments that the supermarkets made have not been visible in practice. Nevertheless, the organisation does find it encouraging that “almost all supermarkets are setting concrete goals for the first time to increase the share of Wheel of Five products in their sales”.
However, it appears that supermarkets still do not have the necessary motivation to implement their goals. This is why the health organisations are urging the government to use legal measures that would force supermarkets to take the necessary steps. “Once again it appears that the sector itself is not able to implement the necessary changes,” said Diena Halbertsma, spokesperson for the health organisations. “It is therefore high time that the government takes strong action, so that all supermarkets are obliged to make their assortment, offers and store layout healthier. Without such a legal approach, market forces mainly reward those supermarkets that lag behind in terms of health."
Named as the forerunner in the ranking, Ekoplaza maintains its number one spot for the third time in a row. With the largest assortment of healthy products, it’s unsurprising that the supermarket performed so well.
However, with a total score of only 28,5 percent, even the star pupil could stand to make some improvements. Lidl and Dirk were rated as average in steering towards more healthy options, while Jumbo, Aldi, Albert Heijn and Plus were categorised as laggards.
These are seven supermarkets in the Netherlands ranked from healthiest to unhealthiest:
For more information about the research, visit the official Questionmark website.
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