Bread spread contains less and less salt

Dutch people have breakfast and lunch without noticing that they are becoming healthier and healthier. Gouda cheese already contains 22% less salt than in the past. Meats are already less salty and now salt is also reduced in products such as egg salads, humus and tapenades. 

From 2014, manufacturers and the food industry will work together to improve all product groups in the Product Composition Improvement Agreement. With this approach, hundreds of products have already been adapted. 

Agreements are made per product group about how much sugar, salt and/or saturated fat can be extracted from a product. The product group salads for bread and toast consists of a total of over 700 products. For 42% of the products the salt content is adjusted, and for 29% of the products the sugar content is reduced. This concerns products such as potato salads, pasta containing salads, bread and toast salads such as tuna salad, egg salad and sellers' salad, hummus and tapenades.

Agreements from the National Prevention Agreement

The implementation of the Product Composition Improvement Agreement is continuing steadily. Nine new agreements are planned for 2019. In addition, there are three additional agreements for 2019 arising from the National Prevention Agreement concluded in November last year. These include an agreement to reduce added sugars in dairy drinks and desserts, less kilocalories in soft drinks and agreements to reduce portion sizes in biscuits and pastries, snacks, chocolate and sweets. 

"It is a challenge to reduce salt and sugar while at the same time ensuring that the consumer likes the product. Sugar and salt are flavourings and in some products they also have a preservative effect," says Henrieke Crielaard, Health Manager at CBL. With this approach to reducing sugar, salt and fat, hundreds of products have already been made healthier. "This approach helps consumers to consume fewer calories, salt and/or saturated fat," says Marian Geluk, director at the FNLI. "These product modifications will not help if you eat too much and/or exercise too little structurally. But it certainly helps to get a little less if your diet remains the same.