Misleading marketing: this happened with Nicolette van Dam |’s ‘healthy’ sweets Cooking & Eating

Nicolette van Dam appears to have stopped eating her sweets. Her fruit and vegetable sweets were awarded the most misleading product by Foodwatch last year. According to a spokesperson for the actress and entrepreneur, Yummy veggie candy from Let’s has been ‘out of stock for a while’. Van Dam does not want to say much about it. “Nicolette has decided to focus on other things.”

Van Dam was not happy last year with winning the prize for the most misleading product. The food watchdog is organizing the election because we are constantly being misled in the supermarket with marketing tricks and lies. Yesterday, the organization announced the three new contenders for this year’s Gouden Windei: Pure Craft artisanal salad granny’s potato free-range egg, Kellogg’s All-bran fruit’n fiber and the entire line of Jumbo Ice tea.

A day after the announcement, Jumbo reported that the packaging of Ice teas inner beauty, feel immune and good energy will be adjusted. According to a spokesperson, the packaging was not wrong, but the products are being brought into line with the changed health policy. This new policy means that health claims will only be used for products that fall within the bracket of five.

Initially, there was a fourth nominee. Toko Lien threw in the towel before announcing the nominees by quickly changing a packaging. The manufacturer sold ginger syrup ‘prepared according to a traditional Eastern recipe’. “But there is no ginger or ginger extract in the product,” says Van Gemert. ,, Only aroma, of which it is not certain whether it is natural. The ginger syrup without ginger is now sold as ‘ginger flavored syrup’.”

According to the Foodwatch director, manufacturers are increasingly choosing eggs for their money. They modify packaging to avoid being pilloried. It is new that a product disappears from the market, but Van Gemert is pleased that Van Dam’s lure sweets have disappeared from the shelves.

Van Dam received a lot of criticism for its vegetable sweets. Van Dam spoke of ‘responsible snacking’, while according to Foodwatch the sweets contain just as much sugar as regular sweets. Bacteria in dental plaque convert sugars into acids, explains dental epidemiologist Casper Bots. “An acidic mouth environment promotes cavities.”

Let’s was also rightly awarded, according to the Nutrition Center. “The healthy image of fruit and vegetables is used as a smart marketing trick,” said Iris Groenenberg, nutrition and health expert at the Nutrition Center at the time.

The biggest deception is the fruit juice concentrate. An apple contains sugar. But also vitamins, minerals, water and very important: fiber. In the total of an apple, the sugar, which is naturally present, is acceptable. But if you (partly) remove those other substances so that mainly sugar remains, then you bring out the worst in an apple.

And that is exactly what Van Dam did. “We are convinced that fruit and vegetables are the most beautiful ingredients to make delicious products,” the actress defended herself. But it has little to do with vegetables or fruit, says Groeneweg of the Nutrition Center.

The disappearance of Veggie candy from Let’s proves, according to Foodwatch director Van Gemert, that making candy look healthier does not pay off. ,,Van Dam said last year that they will adjust the products and their communication about this. The fact that the product has now completely disappeared indicates that changes are not possible.” Sugar is sugar, candy is candy.

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