Guide choices through incentives^a

• Fiji has removed the excise duty on imported fruits, vegetables and legumes.

Guide choices through changing the default policy^a

School food policies

• “Schools that engage in the Healthier U.S. School Challenge commit to meeting specified criteria including stricter nutrition standards such as increasing the number of servings of wholegrain foods, dark green and orange vegetables, and dry beans and peas.”

• The German Nutrition Society (DGE) has set voluntary guidelines on quality standards for school meals in Germany. The guidelines contain a 20-day plan suggesting among others, serving salad, vegetables or legumes each day.  

• A law on school catering was introduced in France, which states that a daily vegetarian option is mandatory in school catering but also in collective catering of the State, its public establishments and national public companies. Recommendations for these meals encourage dishes based on vegetables, legumes or whole grains.

• In 2019, the National Program for the Promotion of Healthy Eating (PNPAS) developed a project entitled Healthy Eating in Higher Education, which makes a series of recommendations with regards to which healthful foods should be made available on University grounds. This includes, among others, ensuring that foods on offer in cafeterias include more varied vegetables and legumes. 

• The “Healthier US School Challenge: Smarter Lunchrooms” is a voluntary, nationwide award programme established by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to recognize those schools creating healthier school environments, through the promotion of good nutrition and physical activity. One of the programme’s aims is to enhance school menus by incorporating more legumes (dry beans or peas) and to inspire students by offering cooking demonstrations using these foods.

• The focus of the Food Jams project is to teach more about the benefits of locally produced beans, peas and lentils and how to include more legume dishes that children like in school meals. Through facts and experiments, the project increases knowledge and arouse curiosity, which eventually rubs off on the children at school.

Provide information^a

Food-Based Dietary Guidelines

• Most EU countries have national food-based dietary guidelines (FBDGs) that recommend consuming legumes frequently to replace meat and meat products.

Front-Of-Pack schemes

• As of 2021, the Nutri-Score logo has been adopted by Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Spain, and Switzerland. The logo is present on the front of the packaging to better inform consumers about the nutritional value of foods. To obtain the final product score per 100 g or 100 ml, the calculation takes into account nutrients for which the consumption should be promoted or limited. Among those nutrients to promote are the legumes. 

• In 2014, the Australia government implemented the Health Star Rating (HSR) system as a voluntary scheme for industry adoption. The HSR system takes into account four aspects of a food associated with increasing risk for chronic diseases: energy, saturated fat, sodium and total sugars content, along with certain "positive" aspects of a food. These aspects include, among others, its content of legumes. Star ratings range from ½ star (least healthy) to 5 stars (most healthy).

Public health campaign

• In order to raise awareness of the contribution of pulses to nutrition, health, food security, while at the same time contributing to the sustainable management of soils, on 20 December 2013, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution (A/RES/68/231) proclaiming 2016 as the International Year of Pulses (IYP). In addition, in 2019, recognizing the potential of pulses to contribute to achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) designated 10 February as World Pulses Day (WPD) (resolution A/RES/73/251). 

• The United Kingdom has implemented the 5 A Day campaign, which recommends eating a minimum of 400g of fruit and vegetables a day to lower the risk of serious health problems, such as heart disease, stroke and some types of cancer. Based on the campaign, 80g of bean and pulses count as one of your 5 A Day.

• In 2019, the Directorate-General of Health launched the “Eat Better, a Recipe for Life” (“Comer melhor, uma receita para a vida”) campaign, developed with the aim of promoting healthy eating. It is targeted at adults, with the message challenging the Portuguese population to consume gradually larger quantities of the foods and drinks that are most missing in their diets. Its mass dissemination strategy included different media (television, radio, outdoors, public transport, social networks and regional press) as well as national coverage. It is a positive campaign that aims to “add value” to some foods that are little valued, appreciated and consumed by the Portuguese populations (specifically fruit, vegetables, legumes, and water).

• With the “Week of the Legumes”, that in 2023 ran from 6 to 12 February, the Flemish Institute for Healthy Living wants to encourage Flemish people to replace traditional recipes more often with dishes in which legumes play the leading role.

• France has implemented the Green Monday campaign in 2019, which is an initiative that consists of replacing meat and fish every Monday aiming at reducing their consumption both for the planetary and nutritional health. As part of the campaign, the consumption of legumes is promoted as the best alternative. 

• The National Week Without Meat is an initiative that encourages individuals to reduce their meat consumption by participating in a week-long challenge of eating vegetarian or plant-based meals. Legumes are often promoted as a nutritious and sustainable alternative to meat during this campaign.