Most supermarket special offers are for unhealthy products which fall outside government-recommended eating patterns, the Volkskrant reported on Monday, quoting research by foundation Questionmark.

The research shows that supermarkets are not doing as pledged in an agreement on promoting healthy eating made with the government last year, the VK said.

One aim of that agreement – known as the national prevention accord – is to reduce the proportion of overweight people in the population at large from 50% to 38% by 2040.

Questionmark monitored online supermarket special offers for six months at the country’s leading supermarkets, which together amounted for two-thirds of the market. It found that four in five special offers involved more unhealthy products.

Supermarket lobby group CBL told the Volkskrant there are many different ways of encouraging consumers to eat more healthily. ‘You can provide information in supermarkets and in their magazines,’ the spokesman said. ‘And this is all happening, as agreed. It is easier to count special offers, but that only gives a limited picture.’