The Swiss food pyramid, revised in 2024: eight food groups sorted by amount and frequency, a balanced-plate companion, and a new sustainability dimension. Published by the SGE and BLV.
The Swiss food pyramid was revised in September 2024. It sorts eight food groups by amount and frequency and, for the first time, puts sustainability alongside balance at the front.
The pyramid applies to healthy adults aged 18 to 65 and runs from plenty (bottom) to dispensable (top):
The most striking change is to the protein-rich group. Legumes are on the plan at least once a week; meat — including poultry and processed meat — at most two or three times. In 2024 legumes moved from the sides to the proteins, and nuts became a group of their own.
New, too, is the explicit sustainability dimension: the recommendations weigh health and the environment together. They are issued by the Swiss Society for Nutrition (SGE) and the Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office (BLV).
If you'd rather not think in portions, there's the balanced plate: two-fifths vegetables and fruit, two-fifths starchy sides such as grains and potatoes, one-fifth protein — with an unsweetened drink. The BLV's “MySwissFoodPyramid” app carries the model into everyday use.
Children aged 4 to 12 have a model of their own: the SGE's Ernährungsscheibe (nutrition disc). Instead of amounts it carries five simple messages — drink water, eat vegetables and fruit, eat regularly, eat varied meals, and savour them with all your senses — and comes in 13 languages.
For how the Swiss amounts relate to the German food pyramid, and to estimate your own needs, use the portion calculator.