Switzerland

Swiss Society for Nutrition SSN

The Swiss Society for Nutrition SSN is the national organization for nutrition informing the population and the experts on all questions regarding a balanced diet with scientific information. The SSN is a non-profit organization consisting of general members, collective members and donors. The financing consists of membership fees, the sale of publishing products and income from services and of offices and performance agreements. Its main partners are the Federal Office of Public Health, Health Promotion Switzerland, Swiss Network for Education and Health and the Swiss Academy of Sciences.

Vision

The SSN is an independent, officially recognized centre of excellence for food issues in Switzerland.

The SSN manages that the Swiss population is able and motivated to make their own eating and drinking habits part of a healthy and enjoyable lifestyle. It supports the health and quality of life and contributes to a balanced energy balance and thereby a healthy body weight. Whenever possible the nutritional recommendations are carried out in combination with recommendations for physical activity.

Furthermore, the SSN supports socio-economic and environmental conditions which facilitate healthy eating and drinking habits.

Mission

  • Thanks to its great expertise and its independence the SSN commands high credibility.
  • The SSN supports the general public and the experts in all issues concerning nutrition.
  • The SSN is nationally and internationally well connected.

Activities

The SSN informs the public and professionals on nutritional topics. The Swiss food pyramid for adults and the nutrition disc for children are the central tools for teaching the dietary recommendations. A wide range of services and products is available.

The SSN connects and promotes exchange in the field of nutrition. Every year in September the SSN organises a congress. It also coordinates the network Nutrinet (www.nutrinet.ch), which ensures the exchange of information between non-profit organizations from the food and health sector.

The SSN promotes nutritional research. Under www.sge-ssn.ch the SSN offers nutritionists and scientists a scientific information platform including a job board. Furthermore, under experts.sge-ssn.ch professionals also have an experts network available that facilitates contact and exchange between registered professionals.

For the general public books, brochures, leaflets, posters and CD-ROM regarding general nutrition information are published regularly. The magazine for nutrition tabula picks up current nutrition topics four times a year. The SSN website covers many topics and is updated continuously. It also features a newsletter providing nutritional information through the information service nutrinfo®.

For kindergarten and schools, the SSN provides specific materials and services such as training for kindergarten teachers, teaching materials, assessment of teaching aids and so on.

For companies, the SSN also offers its support in relation to workplace health promotion.

Due to the activities in the whole of Switzerland most products and services of the SSN are offered at least in two languages (German / French), partly also in Italian.

More information

www.sge-ssn.ch

Participating countries