Less meat, more plant proteins on Netherlands' new Schijf van Vijf dietary guide

The Dutch Nutrition Center has released a new Schijf van Vijf nutrition guide for the first time in ten years. The biggest change is the advice to eat significantly less meat and more plant-based proteins. In addition to people’s health, the new Schijf van Vijf focuses more on the food industry’s environmental impact.

The Schijf van Vijf is intended as a tool for a healthy and sustainable diet. It has five colored sections: blue for drinks, green for vegetables, yellow for fat and oils, pink for meats and dairy, and orange for grains.

The sections themselves have remained the same, but the Nutrition Center made a big change within the pink section. The recommendation for meat decreased from up to 500 grams per week to 300 grams per week, of which only 100 grams is red meat. The remaining 200 grams is fish or chicken. The recommended amount of cheese has also been halved, from 40 to 20 grams per day.

At the same time, the recommended amount of lentils and beans almost doubled, from between 120 and 180 grams per week to 250 grams per week. The Nutrition Center, therefore, urges Dutch residents to increase their plant-based protein sources and decrease their animal product intake.

If the Nutrition Center had its way, it would push for consuming even more legumes, Marije Verwijs, a health expert at the Nutrition Center, told NOS. But that’s not realistic, she said. “Legumes are not yet part of many people’s diets. Feasibility is also important.”

In the drinks section, the Schijf van Vijf recommends water, tea, and sugar-free soft drinks. The orange section pushes high-fiber products: whole-grain bread, whole-grain pasta, and brown rice.

The scientists at the Nutrition Center used the latest scientific insights into nutrition and eating patterns to update the Schijf van Vijf. According to the Nutrition Center, a healthy, sustainable, and safe diet is “more important than ever,” and that means that dietary patterns must change.

“Half of the Dutch population is overweight, and 1.2 million people suffer from diabetes. The current food system is responsible for a third of the climate impact,” Verwijs told the broadcaster.

The Nutrition Center stressed that changing dietary patterns is not up to consumers alone. “The government, producers, and suppliers have a significant influence on the food choices people make.”