Since December 2006 in the Netherlands the Health Council's new Guidelines for Good Food apply. These guidelines serve as a basis for food education in the Netherlands. The Guidelines for Good Food describe the nutritional demands to which food must comply in order to procure sufficient quantities of nutrients and to prevent nutrient deficiencies and food related welfare diseases.

The Guidelines for Good Food have been translated by the Food Centre in the Guidelines for a Good Food Choice which are aimed at the consumer. These Guidelines for a Good Food Choice are meant as a basis in consumer education and are translated in instruction messages and materials like the Disk of Five. They serve as well as a starting point for product innovators in the industry.

The Dutch government's policy for improving the current Dutch pattern of food consumption can be found in the cabinet's bill 'Healthy Food, from start till end' (food bill) of the Ministries VWS (food) and LNV (agriculture). The Guidelines for Good Food have been used as a starting point here.

Health Council's Guidelines for Good Food
The Health Council has set up Guidelines for Good Food in 2006. The Health Council gives as its advice that the fatty acid composition of food must further improve. Special attention should be paid to reducing saturated fat intake and augmenting fish fatty acids' intake. For fatty acids the next recommendations have been fixed, for adults and children as from the age of 1 year.

SI = Sufficient intake
AI = Acceptable intake
Energy% = The percentage taken on the total energy intake
* At pregnancy and during lactation a sufficient intake of 2.5 energy% applies
** Corresponds with eating fish two times a week, of which one is a 'fat' fish species