'Better product composition has an effect for everyone’

Jantine Schuit is head of the Centre for Nutrition, Prevention and Health Services of the Netherlands’ National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) and a professor of health promotion and policy at VU University Amsterdam. As chair of the Scientific Advisory Committee for the National Agreement to Improve Production Composition, she also fulfils a central role in monitoring the agreements that have been made. What’s the current status?

Food plays a crucial role in the ambition to achieve a healthy society, claimed Edith Schipper, Dutch minister of Health, Welfare and Sport, in a recent letter to parliament: “By 2020 it must be easy to stay within the daily guidelines of max. 6 grams of salt and max. 10 percent of the daily energy intake from saturated fats and to consume fewer calories”. In the National Agreement to Improve Production Composition, the government, food producers and vendors of food have agreed to adapt the composition of food and beverage products accordingly.

What does your research cover?

“We are studying which policies make an effective contribution to people’s health, primarily by conducting research into policies within sectors other than public health itself. Which approach in the area of, for example, transport, spatial design or food works best? How can we get people out of their cars and onto their bikes, how can we make it easier to make healthy choices and how can residential neighbourhoods be designed so that children want to play outside, and can do so safely? Does it help if you reduce the price of fruit and vegetables and increase tax on alcohol and tobacco? Which government policies will promote healthy ageing and minimise costs?”

You’re chair of the Scientific Advisory Committee (WAC) for the National Agreement to Improve Production Composition. What is the committee’s role?

“In the National Agreement of 2014, the government, manufacturers, supermarkets, caterers and foodservice companies agreed to reduce the amount of sugar, salt and fats in products. It’s a Dutch initiative, but more and more countries are following suit. The WAC checks whether the agreements made by the chain partners of a particular product group are ambitious enough to achieve the goals set in the National Agreement by 2020: a daily maximum intake of 6 grams of salt, a maximum of 10 percent of the energy intake from saturated fats, and reduced calorie consumption. If the products on offer make that easy for consumers, the result will be fewer cases of diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular diseases. We also check whether the manufacturers are reducing the levels quickly enough, and we look at whether they are focusing on the right product groups. After all, the greatest health benefit will be achieved by reducing salt, sugar and fats in the product groups that make the biggest contribution to the intake of these substances.”

Will the reduction targets be achieved?

“A lot of hard work is being done to reformulate product groups, but the WAC believes that things are not yet moving quickly enough. At this rate, we will not achieve the goals for 2020. In order to do so, the reduction targets must be more ambitious and new agreements within the product group must be made faster. It’s also necessary to make agreements for more products, including ones within the biscuits & cakes category. Of course, we understand that the levels must be reduced step by step, and gradually enough that consumers don’t notice or at least don’t dislike the taste of the reformulated product. After all, we don’t want them to add extra salt themselves. Therefore, the committee suggests setting reduction targets over a longer period, including intermediate targets, e.g. after 2, 4 and 6 years, to make it easier to see whether the existing reduction target can be achieved in the long term. Furthermore, we see possibilities to achieve more in the foodservice sector by further limiting salt, sugar and fats in the product offering. It would be good if the product reformulation in the food processing industry could be mirrored by making changes in the food offering from caterers and foodservice companies. By the way, the committee has a purely advisory role. The ultimate responsibility lies with the steering group comprising representatives of VWS, FNLI, CBL, Veneca and KNH, the ministry and the industry associations.” 

‘If we are to achieve the goals, the reduction targets will need to be more ambitious’

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Jantine Schuit

Jantine Schuit (1964) conducted her doctoral research into the effect of an exercise programme on coronary heart disease risk factors in the elderly. She has been working for RIVM since 1997. She conducts research into the cost effectiveness of prevention, care and healthy ageing. Since 2007 Jantine Schuit has been a professor of health promotion and policy at VU University Amsterdam, where she teaches and studies the effectiveness of lifestyle interventions and health policies.

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Is it feasible for all manufacturers to make reductions?

“In the case of some products there are technological limitations on how far the reductions can go, and we’ve heard that smaller companies in particular don’t always have access to the necessary technology. Larger companies generally do tend to have the resources for technological innovation. We’re currently looking at the pan-European possibilities for gathering technological knowledge and making it available to companies who are working to achieve reductions. We don’t want to focus on the negatives, but at the same time we’re trying to show how things can be done better.”

Is improving the product composition the best route to healthier eating?

“Improved product composition has an effect for everyone. With information and logos, you tend to reach only the people who are already interested in nutrition. Making products more expensive by taxing ingredients such as sugar or fats can also be effective in some cases, but those decisions are political choices.”

Do you think that health and nutrition are moving in the right direction in the Netherlands?

“There are some favourable developments and some less favourable ones. RIVM’s most recent food consumption survey shows, for example, that children are eating more fruit and vegetables, which is good news. Dutch consumers have also reduced their intake of fats and meat over the past five years. But there are also trends with a negative health effect, such as that more ready-made sauces and powdered sauce mixes are being consumed, which is an unhealthy development. The fact that people have less time to spend cooking means that they are choosing convenient options more often, and that can result in them consuming more salt.”

Will health be the most important food-related topic in 2017?

“Health is no doubt an important topic for many people, but I believe that food safety is the most important issue for consumers. In addition, there is growing attention for sustainability which is another topic that RIVM – and increasingly the food processing industry – regards as important.”