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Joost Scholten   Sander van der Meij

happier meals

The Healthy Kids Menu Initiative in Southern Australia is a task force of the local government. They brought parents, restaurants, cafés, hotels, clubs and health organisations together to compose recommendations for children’s menus. A clear and simple process was implemented: companies that want to join the initiative should commit to making at least half of their products targeting children healthy, offering beverages with little or no sugar and providing children with free water.

shoku-iku

Japan is one of the few industrialised countries where excess weight and obesity barely play a role of significance. This is most likely due to the fact that schools offer educational material about dietary habits. It is called shoku-iku. What it boils down to is that schools offer healthy meals and hire experts to help formulate their recipes. The children serve the meals to each other and eat together in their classrooms. No vending machines with snacks or soda are found anywhere in Japanese schools and the children are not allowed to bring food from home until high school.

dieticians for all children

Food culture is an important part of the school-going years in France. French children are served a multi-course warm meal for lunch at school. French school children eat responsibly because a dietician is involved in creating their menu. And it isn’t just flavour and nutritional value that counts, but etiquette as well. This approach helps combat excess weight, obesity and high blood pressure. It also teaches children to behave at the table and be mindful about their meal.

peace and regularity

The Hungarian government is taking it a step further than providing simple advice about nutritional value alone. Their food policy includes regularity (fixed times for each of four or five daily meals) and mindfulness (eat slowly, never eat while driving or working).

Stimulation and education make for excellent government instruments. But sometimes more drastic measures are required. The United Kingdom has been imposing a sugar tax on sugar-rich beverages since 2018. This approach has proven effective in Mexico in the past. Once their 10% tax on sugar-rich beverages had been imposed, their consumption dropped by twelve percent over the first year.  Even before that time, Hungary started taxing manufacturers for the use of sugar. As a result, the sugar content of their products dropped by 40%.

sugar tax

In addition, the organisation drafted a Nordic Children’s Kitchen Manifesto to promote honest, tasty and healthy meals that stimulate all senses. The Nordic Co-operation exports knowledge. Including to India where the government is actively implementing policy based on the Nordics’ approach.

holistic diet

The Nordic Co-operation is a collaboration between various Northern European countries and regions. The goal is to make these countries pleasant places to live and work. Their New Nordic Food Manifesto lists a number of items that the associated governments tend to, which includes combining the aim for the best flavour, sustainability and nutritional value with the latest insights in terms of consumer wellbeing.


Brazil has a problem: 1 in 2 adults and 1 in 3 children are overweight. In order to turn the tide, the Brazilian Ministry of Public Health proposed guidelines for a healthy diet. They wanted to steer clear of scientific and paternalistic language. The government opted for a common sense approach: try to eat together, go for non- or barely processed foods and freshly-made dishes.

eat real food together

fruit & veggies

Canada’s food guide contains government food guidelines. The government stimulates eating vegetables and fruit, but also recommends avoiding things like fruit juice because it contains a lot of sugar. They also recommend to check the label on canned vegetables to make sure they don’t contain too much salt. The Canadian government is explicitly arming consumers with knowledge in order for them to make the right choices.

How different countries tackle dietary challenges

The fact that food plays an important role in our health is no longer being disputed. But in addition to what we eat, we also want to consider how we eat something, where and with whom. Perhaps if we combine these eight policies, we may find the perfect diet for the world?

BEST PRACTICES

  4 min

DIETARY GUIDELINES 

Sacha Koolen Sander van der Meij

Offline: This content can only be displayed when online.

The Healthy Kids Menu Initiative in Southern Australia is a task force of the local government. They brought parents, restaurants, cafés, hotels, clubs and health organisations together to compose recommendations for children’s menus. A clear and simple process was implemented: companies that want to join the initiative should commit to making at least half of their products targeting children healthy, offering beverages with little or no sugar and providing children with free water.

happier meals

Japan is one of the few industrialised countries where excess weight and obesity barely play a role of significance. This is most likely due to the fact that schools offer educational material about dietary habits. It is called shoku-iku. What it boils down to is that schools offer healthy meals and hire experts to help formulate their recipes. The children serve the meals to each other and eat together in their classrooms. No vending machines with snacks or soda are found anywhere in Japanese schools and the children are not allowed to bring food from home until high school.

shoku-iku

Food culture is an important part of the school-going years in France. French children are served a multi-course warm meal for lunch at school. French school children eat responsibly because a dietician is involved in creating their menu. And it isn’t just flavour and nutritional value that counts, but etiquette as well. This approach helps combat excess weight, obesity and high blood pressure. It also teaches children to behave at the table and be mindful about their meal.

dieticians for all children

The Hungarian government is taking it a step further than providing simple advice about nutritional value alone. Their food policy includes regularity (fixed times for each of four or five daily meals) and mindfulness (eat slowly, never eat while driving or working).

peace and regularity

Stimulation and education make for excellent government instruments. But sometimes more drastic measures are required. The United Kingdom has been imposing a sugar tax on sugar-rich beverages since 2018. This approach has proven effective in Mexico in the past. Once their 10% tax on sugar-rich beverages had been imposed, their consumption dropped by twelve percent over the first year.  Even before that time, Hungary started taxing manufacturers for the use of sugar. As a result, the sugar content of their products dropped by 40%.

sugar tax

holistic diet

The Nordic Co-operation is a collaboration between various Northern European countries and regions. The goal is to make these countries pleasant places to live and work. Their New Nordic Food Manifesto lists a number of items that the associated governments tend to, which includes combining the aim for the best flavour, sustainability and nutritional value with the latest insights in terms of consumer wellbeing.


Brazil has a problem: 1 in 2 adults and 1 in 3 children are overweight. In order to turn the tide, the Brazilian Ministry of Public Health proposed guidelines for a healthy diet. They wanted to steer clear of scientific and paternalistic language. The government opted for a common sense approach: try to eat together, go for non- or barely processed foods and freshly-made dishes.

eat real food together

Canada’s food guide contains government food guidelines. The government stimulates eating vegetables and fruit, but also recommends avoiding things like fruit juice because it contains a lot of sugar. They also recommend to check the label on canned vegetables to make sure they don’t contain too much salt. The Canadian government is explicitly arming consumers with knowledge in order for them to make the right choices.

fruit & veggies

The fact that food plays an important role in our health is no longer being disputed. But in addition to what we eat, we also want to consider how we eat something, where and with whom. Perhaps if we combine these eight policies, we may find the perfect diet for the world?

How different countries tackle dietary challenges

  4 min

Overview magazines

Food Inspiration Magazine is the online magazine for foodservice professionals in search of inspiration and innovation. With the magazine we collect, enrich and spread inspiration. The free subscription magazine is published eight times per year and is an abundant source of inspiration for food and hospitality professionals. Our readers can be found in the U.S., Northern Europe, Latin America and Asia.
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