Samenvatting

A healthy lifestyle with healthy food are two ambitions many people cherish. In recent years, the process and components of attaining perfect health have received greater attention. New products regularly appear on the market with claims of supporting or achieving a healthy lifestyle. One of these product lines is called ‘superfoods’. Superfoods are edibles and on the package one can find information of their extremely healthy properties or benefits. Scrutiny of those food labels, however, reveals that a consumer cannot know for certain what aspects are reliable.
First this paper describes, analyses, and evaluates what superfoods are, next it researches the European and Dutch legislation that govern their food labels and food claims, and will conclude by stating if Dutch store-brand products act in accordance with those regulations. It employs three complimentary methods: desk research, an interview, and field research. A field test compares the store-brand labels and packages, Albert Heijn, Jumbo, and Aldi, of three superfoods, goji berries, chia seeds, and hemp seeds. Analysing the results of this field research, together with information from the other two methods, determines if the food labels and food claims comply with current law.
This paper concludes that, while all of the labels studied do conform to legal guidelines, not all the food claims present on packages act in accordance with existing legislation. Aldi-brand superfood packages are free of problematic food claims, but two claims found on Jumbo-brand items and one statement present on Albert Heijn-brand superfoods contradict EU law.
On the basis of this research, one can predict that the frequency of misleading labels on hyped food products will increase in the near future. As a result, consumers will be misled and producers will include more vague claims of nutritional value on their products. To promote consumer fairness, this paper advocates for the use of honest labels—without any food claims—on products that are part of a food hype.