Denmark

The Danish Veterinary and Food Administration (DVFA)

The Danish Veterinary and Food Administration (DVFA) promote safety, health and quality in the whole food chain.

Mission

The mission of the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration (DVFA) is to promote safety, health and quality from farm to table. The DVFA covers the entire process from farm to fork.

Vision

Our work shall have a visible effect:

  • Still fewer people shall suffer from food related illnesses, food and dietary habits shall improve, misleading practices and claims shall decrease as shall the number of diseased livestock
  • We shall provide a good, conducive and supportive framework for producing, selling and buying foods.

What we do

The DVFA emphasizes making healthy choices easy for the population through partnerships, nutrition labels such as The Keyhole Label and Whole Grain logo as well as target group specific recommendations.

Dietary Recommendations
The DVFA advises and issues recommendations to consumers and enterprises about nutrition, healthy eating and food production. Lifestyle diseases and overweight challenges the Western world. To help the population to a healthier life, the DVFA advises everybody to eat by the current dietary recommendations. New dietary recommendations were launched in September 2013. The dietary recommendations build on the scientifically based Nordic Nutrition Recommendations, and are fully financed by the Danish government.

The Keyhole label
The Keyhole is a Nordic nutrition label which was launched in Denmark in 2009. It has gained rapid success with substantial support from Danish food producers and major retailers on the market. The Keyhole is obtainable for prepacked food products with a low content of sugar, salt, fats etc., and makes it easy for consumers to locate the products in the supermarkets.
Today, most consumers recognize the brand, and many find that healthy food choices have become easier.

The Whole Grain Partnership
The aim is to create target-oriented and effective interventions to ensure that Danes consume more whole grain. The focus is to make whole grain products easily available through a recognizable logo. The partnership has been very successful and has increased the consumption of whole grain substantially – on average from 36 to 63 grams per day in the time period 2004-2013. The DVFA is vice-chairman, and the partnership covers 37 member organizations.

The Salt Partnership
The objective of the Salt Partnership is to reduce the intake of salt among consumers in Denmark. The partnership seeks to raise awareness of the link between salt and health to consumers and food professionals in canteens etc., and also promoting food with the Keyhole Label. Furthermore, collaboration with the food industry aims at reducing the salt content in processed food across the board. The DVFA holds the chair, and 16 member organizations participate.

The Danish Meal Partnerships
The Danish Meal Partnership is a rather new partnership with the purpose of making it convenient and desirable for all citizens in Denmark to eat healthier meals. The partnership has a special focus on improving social equality in food consumption patterns. The DVFA holds the chair, and at present 16 member organizations participate.

Nordic Cooperation
The DVFA is involved in the Nordic cooperation related to the Nordic Council of Ministers for Fisheries and Aquaculture, Agriculture, Foodstuffs and Forestry (MR-FJLS). The Nordic
Cooperation is one of the world’s most extensive regional cooperation, involving Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Iceland and Finland and the three autonomous areas of Greenland, The
Faroe Islands and Aaland.

More information

www.altomkost.dk or www.fvst.dk

Participating countries