NETHERLANDS: Pizzas Most Popular, Dutch Spend €440 Million On Food Deliveries

In the second quarter of this year, Dutch ordered a total of 440 million euros worth of meal deliveries.

Pizza is the most popular delivered food, followed by grill dishes, fast food and sushi.

On average, Dutch spend 11.40 per person per order.

Sushi and other Japanese dishes are most expensive, at 17.96 euros per meal.

Ordering a pizza for delivery costs an average of 9.57 euros per person.

The meal delivery sector in the Netherlands is growing explosively, partly thanks to the growing economy.

Revenues for this year are expected to reach between 1.3 billion and 1.4 billion euros. And ABN Amro expects that the industry will grow by 20 percent next year.

Thuisbezorgd is the biggest player in the Netherlands' meal delivery market.

A massive 420 million euros in meals were ordered from their site last year.

Competitors like Deliveroo and Foodora are much smaller, and also face stiff competition from restaurant chains like Domino's and New York Pizza which offer their own delivery options, according to the bank.

The vast majority of delivered meals are still ordered over the phone. Only 35 percent of orders were made online.



Tourism Observer

SOUTH AFRICA: Fast Food Meals Hurting South African Kids

If you have visited South Africa, your first observation would be how weighty every South African is. The weight problems among SA kids have been attributed to poor diets and not enough physical activity.

Because South Africans has a significant weight problem, with around one quarter of the population being obese, most notably among South African women, where 38% are obese, and 70% regarded as overweight, South African children were the third most obese in the world.

One of the biggest contributors to unhealthy eating is fast food, packed with saturated fats, and high carbohydrate and salt content. South Africa has well over 4,500 local and international fast food franchises in the country, with more brands expected to open up outlets in the future.

Previous data compiled by BusinessTech showed that some of South Africa’s worst offenders provided meals that took up half of an adult’s daily kilojoule needs – with some stretching far past that.

These are the worst meals available from SA fast food outlets for your kids.

It keeps me wondering aloud ” Do they enjoy being overweight?

South Africans love their fast-food, so much so that we’ve eaten our way to becoming one of the most obese nations in the world.

The Lancet issued research by the Global Burden of Disease in 2014 listing the obesity ratings of 188 countries across the globe – and South Africa ranked highly, as one of the most obese nations.

According to the research report, 38.8% of all men over the age of 20 are considered overweight and obese – of these, 13.5% are categorised as obese.

For women, the figures are even worse – with 69.3% of women over the age of 20 considered overweight and obese, of which 42% obese.

While these are not the highest stats in the world (an ‘honour’ which belongs to nations such as the USA, and Mexico) this does make South Africa by far the fattest country in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Fast food, fatty meals

One of the most commonly cited reasons for South African’s growing obesity problem is the ‘westernisation’ and urbanisation of the population.

Fast-paced urban lifestyles don’t leave much room for physical activity, and increasingly put people into contact with fast-food, which often carries high fat, sugar and salt content.

While bodies vary, based on normal BMI the average man should ingest around 2,400 Calories (or kilocalories) a day, and the average woman around 2,000 Calories.

These meals listed below are the most fattening items from a number of popular South African fast-food chains which, in some cases, could fill the recommended daily intake (RDI) quota in one meal.

BusinessTech counts the calories of some of South Africa’s most loved fast-food meals.

Why Is Fast Food An Attraction

Ordering fried chicken at a fast-food restaurant in Colombia’s capital, Paola Flores is one of millions of Latin Americans struggling with obesity, an epidemic hitting this region harder than others in the developing world.

More than 56 percent of Latin American adults are overweight or obese, compared to a global average of 34 percent, according to a report by the Overseas Development Institute last year.

The growing problem often affects the poorest in society, and threatens to overwhelm Latin America’s public health systems and curtail economic gains in the long run, experts say.

“Buying a family combo of fried chicken, chips and a soft drink can feed me and my three children at a price I can afford,” Flores, a secretary, said as she stood in line.

Since 1991, the number of hungry people in Latin America has nearly halved to 37 million in December from 68.5 million. While the region is the only one that is on track to meet U.N. goals on reducing hunger by 2015, far less attention has been paid to combating obesity.

In the past decade, fast-growing economies buoyed by a commodities boom, includingMexico, Colombia and Brazil, have seen a rising middle class with a taste for more processed food that are high in salt, sugar and fat.

Aid in the form of cash transfers, pioneered by some of the region’s left-leaning governments, particularly Brazil, mean people have more money to spend on food.

Governments and nutrition programs now need to focus on ensuring people buy more foods high in fiber and protein, such as fruits and vegetables, U.N. officials said.

“In the past, the main problem we had in Latin America was under-nutrition. We tried to spend efforts on school feeding programs and supplements for families,” said Yenory Hernandez-Garbanzo from the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

Now, we have to look at the bigger picture. We were feeding these families with a lot of energy but we weren’t teaching them how to be balanced in their diets.
Obesity is the fastest-growing chronic disease, killing 2.8 million adults every year. Obesity-related conditions, including diabetes and heart disease, now cause more deaths than hunger, according to the World Economic Forum.

“Rapidly rising rates of obesity in Latin America and worldwide bring huge social challenges and places a tremendous burden on the individuals affected, as well as the global economy and public healthcare systems,” said Florencia Vasta, a specialist at the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition.

Mexico faces the region’s most acute obesity crisis, with 70 percent of adults overweight or obese, according to Mexico’s National Institute for Public Health (INSP).

Obesity in some countries in Latin America, like Mexico, is an epidemic where extreme measures need to be taken,” Juan Rivera, head of INSP’s health and nutrition research center.

Obesity cost the Mexican economy an estimated $5.5 billion in 2008, he said, and if the problem is not addressed, the figure is expected to hit $12.5 billion by 2017.

To combat obesity, which Mexico has declared a public health priority, lawmakers have introduced measures to promote exercise and healthy eating, such as free subway rides if passengers perform 10 squats and a 2014 tax on sugary drinks and junk food.

Other measures include banning unhealthy food from school cafeterias and require all schools to provide water fountains to reduce the consumption of sugary drinks.

Costa Rica, Uruguay and Colombia have also introduced similar initiatives to promote healthy food in schools, while Ecuador has introduced controls on food labeling.

“Mexico has taken good steps in its fight against obesity during this and the previous administration but there’s still much ground to cover,” Rivera said.

Experts say one reason why obesity is such a problem in Latin America stems from the power of multinational food and beverage firms, particularly those from the United States.

“One of the biggest issues here is the influence of the food industry,” FAO nutrition expert Melissa Vargas said. “They have … a lot of political influence and money for advertising.”