Better Meal : A New Step Toward Sustainable Healthy Eating

What is Better Meal?
Better Meal is a new approach to creating healthier meals, focusing on the everyday meals of Thai people. The aim is to make meals balanced and practical to eat every day — not just “clean food” or “salads” that people may try for a short time and abandon, but real, freshly cooked Thai dishes that are part of daily life.

Behind Better Meal lies a system that evaluates both entire meals and individual dishes, helping us clearly see whether what we eat each day is balanced in both taste and nutrition — and, most importantly, feasible in real life, not merely theoretical.

At its heart, Better Meal is about showing that good health can begin with simple steps — by making an ordinary meal more balanced, we can enjoy delicious food while also taking care of our well-being.

Why Better Meal?

Thailand already has a “Healthier Choice” logo for packaged food products, but this system does not yet cover freshly prepared foods, which are what most Thai people consume in everyday life. Moreover, Thai eating culture is “combination meals” that include rice and a variety of side dishes. This makes it necessary to introduce a new framework that can evaluate food at the meal level — not only by individual product or single dish.

Objectives of Better Meal

• To help consumers access balanced, healthier meals that are realistic for daily life
• To support food service providers and restaurants in creating combination meals with improved nutritional balance
• To establish a common standard that reflects the overall quality of a meal
• To drive the movement toward a healthier and more sustainable society

Collaboration Across Multiple Sectors

The Better Meal project was initiated in 2022 through the collaboration of three key organizations:

✅ Ajinomoto Co., (Thailand) Ltd.

✅ Institute of Nutrition, Mahidol University (INMU)

✅ Thai Dietetic Association (TDA)

The project has since expanded to involve additional partners, including universities, food industry representatives, and professional organizations. All share the same belief that…

✨ “A good meal can truly change the health of Thai people.”

What is NPS-M?

NPS-M (Nutrient Profiling System for Meal) is a scoring system that evaluates the nutritional quality of a complete meal, with a maximum score of 100 points.

The higher the score, the more nutritionally balanced the meal is—meaning it closely aligns with recommended dietary targets for one individual serving.

Applicable to various meal types:
NPS-M can be used to evaluate various types of meals, such as:

• Single-dish meals with side items, e.g., set of chicken rice + soup + dipping sauce
• Rice with multiple side dishes or mixed rice
• Traditional shared meals (Thai-style set meals with several dishes)

How Does NPS-M Assess a Meal?

NPS-M evaluates the overall nutritional quality of a complete meal using six key nutrient factors:

• Energy
• Protein
• Fruits and vegetables
• Sodium
• Added sugar
• Total fat

To achieve a good score, the meal must provide:

• Adequate amounts of protein and fruits/vegetables, and
• Controlled levels of energy, fat, added sugar, and sodium—in line with Thailand’s national nutrition standards.

These include:

• Thai Recommended Daily Intakes (Thai RDI)
• Food-Based Dietary Guidelines (FBDG)
• The 400-gram daily fruit and vegetable intake recommendation

For General Consumers:

If you want to build a balanced meal while still enjoying your favorite dishes, NPS-M can help you mix and match side dishes that balance flavor and nutrition.

🍛 High-fat dishes (e.g. coconut curry, fried items, pork belly)
→ Pair with low-fat dishes like steamed, grilled, or spicy salads.

🍖Meat-heavy dishes (e.g. fried fish, pork stirred-fried with garlic, grilled chicken)
→ Pair with vegetable-rich dishes like sour curry with vegetable, stir-fried mixed vegetables, or som tam.

🥦 Vegetarian or veggie-heavy dishes (e.g. stewed cabbage, Chinese veggie soup)
→ Pair with plant-based protein dishes like tofu or soy protein stir-fries.

🌶️ Spicy, salty dishes (e.g. southern-style curry, fermented fish, chili dips)
→ Pair with potassium-rich vegetables, which support sodium excretion and balance the meal.

📝 The idea is simple: When you combine dishes wisely, you can enjoy the foods you love without compromising your health.

For Food Providers:

You can use NPS-M to:

• Create balanced set meals from your existing menus
• Offer customers delicious and nutritious combinations with confidence

A recipe analysis system designed to help you plan healthier meals more effectively.

NPS-D (Nutrient Profiling System for Dish) is a scoring system that evaluates the nutritional quality of individual dishes or healthy recipes, using a 100-point scale.

A higher score indicates that the dish is more balanced according to the nutritional criteria set for its specific food category.

Dish Categories in NPS-D (version1)

Each dish category in NPS-D is further classified into three subgroups based on the main ingredient composition:

1. Meat-based:
   More than 2/3 of the dish’s weight comes from meat or animal protein.
2. Vegetable-based:
   More than 2/3 of the dish’s weight comes from vegetables.
3. Mixed:
   The dish does not clearly fall into either the meat-based or vegetable-based category (ingredients are more evenly distributed).

How Does NPS-D Evaluate a Dish?

• NPS-D evaluates each dish using the same six core nutrition factors as NPS-M:
• Energy, Protein, Vegetables and Fruits, Sodium, Added Sugar, and Total Fat.

How to Use NPS-D

For Recipe Developers and Food Providers:

• Use NPS-D to evaluate the nutritional quality of each dish on your menu.
• If a dish scores poorly, consider adjusting certain ingredients or seasoning levels to improve its score.
• You don’t need to adjust every dish—even making changes to just a few recipes can help improve the overall balance of a meal (as measured by NPS-M).

Note: NPS-D does not need to be applied to every dish. Some recipes have already been carefully crafted for taste and identity. Over-adjusting them may compromise their flavor or uniqueness.

For General Consumers:

If you cook at home or combine multiple ready-made dishes into one meal, we recommend using NPS-M as your main guide for creating a well-balanced plate.

Difference Between NPS-M and NPS-D

Better Meal: Ordinary Meals… for Everyday Health

Healthy eating should not be something temporary — it should be part of the ordinary meals we enjoy every day. This is the essence of Better Meal, which brings together the strengths of NPS-M (Nutrient Profiling System for Meal) and NPS-D (Nutrient Profiling System for Dish) to help Thai people enjoy both deliciousness and good health, in every meal, sustainably.