Kostholdspartnerskapet (The Partnership for a Healthier Diet)

The parties have committed to working for a healthier diet through Kostholdspartnerskapet (The Partnership for a Healthier Diet), which will help to make it easier for consumers to choose healthy options.

The partnership includes measures such as making everyday foods healthier, offering healthier food in kiosks, petrol stations, canteens and other food outlets, and actively promoting healthier alternatives.

Cooperation across sectors

The partnership is an important instrument for achieving more effective cooperation between actors that produce and sell food, so that it becomes easier for people to eat in line with Norway’s national dietary guidelines.

The government wants the population to eat more fruit, vegetables, berries, wholegrain products, fish and seafood, and less added sugar, salt and saturated fat.

An unhealthy diet leads to disease, health problems and years of life lost. As part of the cooperation, the parties therefore commit to working towards shared, quantified targets. In addition, each partner will set their own targets, to be reported to the health authorities. Some of the overarching targets are:

• The proportion of added sugar in the diet is reduced to 10 per cent of energy intake by 2030.
• Consumption of vegetables, fruit and berries is increased by 8 per cent by 2030 compared with 2024.
• Consumption of wholegrain products is increased by 3 per cent by 2030 compared with 2024.
• Ctonsumption of fish and seafood is increased by 5 percentage points by 2030 compared with 2024.
• Consumption of milk, yoghurt and cheese in line with the 3 om dagen (three a day) label is increased by 3 per cent by 2030 compared with 2025.
• The share of Nøkkelhullet (keyhole)-labelled products increases to 26 per cent, measured by value and volume, by 2030.
• The number of products carrying the Nøkkelhullet (keyhole) label increases to 2,200 by 2030.
• Awareness of the national dietary guidelines increases to 80 per cent, and trust is maintained.

• Kostholdspartnerskapet (helsedirektoratet.no, in Norwegian)

Easier to make healthy choices

Participants in the cooperation shall make it easier for consumers to make healthier choices by making their products healthier, adjusting portion and pack sizes, promoting healthier alternatives, exercising care in product placement, and developing new, healthy products.

The Norwegian Directorate of Health is responsible for informing about the relationship between diet and health and for providing information on the dietary guidelines. The Directorate also serves as the secretariat for implementation of Kostholdspartnerskapet, while the Ministry chairs næringslivsgruppa (the industry group), which is the highest decision-making body in the partnership’s governance.

The agreement replaces intensjonsavtalen for et sunnere kosthold (memorandum of understanding for a healthier diet) and is valid until 31 December 2030. Progress will be measured annually, and an evaluation will be carried out after two years.

Previous evaluations of the agreement

The research institute Fafo evaluated the work under intensjonsavtalen (fafo.no, in Norwegian) up to the end of 2021. The evaluation showed that the actors had defined diet-related work as one of their strategic objectives in one form or another, and that intensjonsavtalen provided impetus and direction for this work.

The most frequently used measures among companies were product reformulation, as well as development of new products and marketing initiatives.

The Norwegian Institute of Public Health (FHI) conducted a new evaluation in 2025 (fhi.no, in Norwegian) of the agreement’s quantitative targets. The evaluation showed that the target of increased sales of nøkkelhull (keyhole) products had been reached. Moreover, it, showed a positive development for salt, with a gradual reduction in salt content within several important food categories, including bread, cheese, meat products and sauces.

Additionally, the evaluation showed low goal attainment for the targets concerning total consumption of salt, added sugar, saturated fat and #MerAv foods (fruit, berries, vegetables, wholegrain products and seafood), with few or no positive changes. In some cases, changes in the relevant parameters were negative from 2015 to 2023/2024.

There may be several reasons why targets were not reached. The targets were ambitious to begin with. In addition, parallel developments in society may have affected consumption of salt, added sugar, saturated fat and #MerAv foods during the agreement period, making it challenging to estimate the effects of the agreement. For example, food has become more expensive, especially #MerAv foods, and food waste has decreased during the period.

Intensjonsavtalen ended on 31 December 2025.