These are the healthiest (and unhealthiest) supermarkets in the Netherlands

Dutch supermarkets may lure you in with an array of colourful fruits and veggies, but don’t be fooled — cookies and chips are lurking in the next aisle, ready to sabotage your good intentions. 

So, how healthy are Dutch supermarkets really?

To answer that, the government ranked some of the most popular stores based on how healthy their products are and their efforts to encourage healthier choices for consumers. 

Spin the Schijf van Vijf

As Het Parool writes, the Schijf van Vijf (Wheel of Five) is the official model used by the Dutch government to provide information about healthy dietary patterns. 

Each segment contains food groups that provide health benefits and essential nutrients. Foods that do neither? Those are excluded from the wheel.

According to guidelines, no more than 15% of your daily food intake should be outside the wheel — but supermarket sales show that not all consumers are sticking to this advice. 👀

For example:

At Aldi, 28% of sales fall within the wheel.
At Dirk, 32% of sales fall within the wheel.
At Lidl, 37% of sales fall within the wheel.

Jumbo and Albert Heijn claim that 40% of their sales fall within the Wheel of Five, but they only report their sales from private labels. 

READ MORE | Can I drink tap water in Amsterdam?

According to Charlotte Linnebank, director of Questionmark, a European foundation researching food systems, this gives a distorted picture since “it is precisely the A-brands that often offer unhealthy products”.

The healthiest supermarkets: ranked

In 2018, Dutch supermarkets signed the National Prevention Agreement, committing to encourage their consumers to purchase more products from the Wheel of Five.

However, by offering discounts on unhealthy products, supermarkets contradict their commitment, as these acties make us consume more of these items than intended.

Based on these parameters, researchers have created a list ranking each supermarket’s efforts to become healthier for consumers… And the results are in. 👇

Yep, the infamous and much beloved Albert Heijn ranks second to last on the list. 🥲

Albert Heijn and Jumbo both resist the results of this research, claiming that the system used in the scoring does not do justice to their efforts to help people achieve healthier lifestyles. 

Do you feel as though this list reflects the reality of these supermarkets? Let us know in the comments below.