Supermarkets mostly advertise unhealthy products, despite all promises to encourage their customers to eat healthier. Most stores advertise even more products that are not in the Wheel of Five. This applies, for example, to sweets, soft drinks and desserts.

The conclusions of research commissioned by the Nutrition for the Healthy Generation Alliance, which includes the Diabetes Fund and Heart Foundation, align with findings from the Department of Health last year. It was concluded that while the government is encouraging healthier choices, the food industry and supermarkets are not facilitating this.

“Not fulfilling promises”

“There are small differences between supermarkets, but in general they don’t do well enough,” said Diena Halbertsma, chair of the coalition. “Unhealthy products still predominate on the shelves and in the folders.”

“They are not fulfilling their promise from the 2018 prevention agreement because little has improved compared to our previous measurements,” says Halbertsma. In this prevention agreement, supermarkets promise to reduce obesity and problematic alcohol consumption.

The branch organization CBL says on behalf of the supermarkets that the agreements and targets are contained in the prevention agreement and that the supermarkets are working to achieve these targets. The organization does not want to comment on the assessment of the various supermarkets.

State intervention

“It’s time to act,” says Halbertsma of the Nutrition for the Healthy Generation Alliance. “The government must step in now to make binding agreements to sell healthier products. The agreements are now too non-binding.”

The industry association CBL is also in favor of state intervention. For example, the supermarkets are calling for a ban on children’s advertising and want a reduction in VAT on fruit and vegetables.