FAQ

HAK Protein Bowls are 4 delicious complete single-serve meals with vegetables, legumes, herbs and spices. Legumes such as beans, chickpeas and lentils are a perfect fit in contemporary dishes. In addition, each meal contains 35 grams of plant-based protein, which contribute to the growth and maintenance of muscle mass. This makes them equivalent to animal alternatives, and they are also affordable, better for your health and the planet.

The HAK Protein Bowls come in four varieties: jackfruit rendang with orzo, Mexican-style chilli with quinoa, lentil curry with couscous and chickpea tagine with couscous. The bowls are suitable as a lunch or provide a solution for the evening meal when you have little time to cook but still want a tasty, protein-rich meal that is 100% natural, as they only need to be briefly heated.

High-protein foods are on the rise, but the plant-based offering within this category is still limited. That is why HAK is launching a range of Protein Bowls: nutritious ready to (h)eat single-serve meals with no less than 35 grams of plant-based protein per pouch. With this new product line, HAK wants to help consumers easily and conveniently eat more plant-based protein. The Protein Bowls are packed with vegetables and legumes as a plant-based protein source.

Proteins, like carbohydrates and fats, are building blocks and nutrients that the human body needs. There are animal and plant-based proteins. Products such as meat, fish, milk, cheese and eggs contain animal proteins. Plant-based proteins are mainly found in bread, grain products, legumes and nuts. Proteins are made up of amino acids. Another word for protein is proteïne.

Source: Voedingscentrum

Amino acids are the building blocks of protein and are important for the construction and repair of body cells. In addition, amino acids play an important role in muscle building and maintenance. Amino acids can be divided into essential and non-essential amino acids. Non-essential amino acids are produced by your body itself. Essential amino acids, on the other hand, are not produced by your body and must be obtained through food. In total there are nine essential amino acids, including histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan and valine.

The HAK protein bowls consist of a mix of plant-based proteins, meaning all essential amino acids are present in our products, see the table below.

Source: Wu, G. (2009). Amino acids: metabolism, functions, and nutrition & Lopez MJ, Mohiuddin SS. (2024). Biochemistry, Essential Amino acids.

*No reference intake established.

Thanks to their properties, legumes are an ideal plant-based alternative for a meat-free day. They are a source of protein and contain fibre. Each legume contains a different amount of the various amino acids. A complete protein source is one that contains all nine essential amino acids. Although individual legumes and other plant-based proteins are not always complete, the right combinations can provide all nine essential amino acids. For example, orzo contains all nine essential amino acids but in different proportions than legumes. Orzo contains more methionine than lysine, while legumes contain more lysine than methionine. By combining these two protein sources, they complement each other to form a complete protein source. In the Protein Bowls, HAK has combined a mix of different plant-based protein sources so that the meals contain all nine essential amino acids. This makes them equivalent to animal alternatives in terms of protein, and they are also affordable, better for your health and the planet.

Source: Hertzler SR, Lieblein-Boff JC, Weiler M, Allgeier C. (2020). Plant Proteins: Assessing Their Nutritional Quality and Effects on Health and Physical Function.

Proteins support the growth and maintenance of muscle mass, as they provide the amino acids needed for the repair and building of muscle tissue. A varied and balanced diet and a healthy lifestyle are important in this regard. During intensive exercise, small tears occur in the muscle fibres. This process, better known as muscle damage, prompts the body to repair these tears. Amino acids from dietary proteins are used to repair and strengthen damaged muscle tissue, leading to muscle growth.

Source: Pai P. (2023). Role of Essential Amino Acids in Protein

HAK Protein Bowls are available at Jumbo, Plus and Nettorama. Other supermarkets will follow in 2025.

The Protein Bowls are a ready to eat meal. They only need to be heated.

Pan: pour or spoon the pouch into a pan.

Microwave: pour or spoon the pouch into a bowl, cover and heat for approximately 2 minutes (depending on the power of your microwave).

Eat cold: the Protein Bowls can also be eaten cold, straight from the pouch.

See the back of the packaging for more preparation tips.

HAK-in-PAK is a new, affordable and easy way to eat more legumes, enriching all your meals. The introduction fits within HAK’s mission to make eating vegetables accessible, tasty and easy for everyone. HAK-in-PAK makes it even easier to add legumes to your daily diet.

HAK-in-PAK is currently available at Albert Heijn. Other supermarkets will follow in the future.

The packaging of HAK-in-PAK is largely made from plant-based materials and is less energy-intensive to produce, which is why the CO2 footprint is lower than that of glass or tin packaging. In addition, the packaging is lighter, which means less fuel is needed for transport.

The cardboard legume packaging is mainly (>90%) made from plant-based materials. The outer layer consists of FSC™-certified cardboard. The inner layer is made of a thin layer of plastic to keep the product fresh. This plastic layer can be separated from the cardboard and recycled separately. The packaging therefore meets the requirements for recyclability.

The cheaper cardboard packaging makes it possible to offer HAK-in-PAK at an accessible recommended retail price. On one hand through the use of less expensive packaging material, and on the other hand because less energy is required in the production process.

At the moment, most of the legumes in HAK-in-PAK are still grown and packaged outside the Netherlands. Because we cannot yet produce the packaging line ourselves, we work with a partner who does this for us.

The legumes are currently not yet organically grown. HAK follows a careful step-by-step plan to have all locally grown vegetables and products meet organic standards by 2027.

Legumes are a source of plant-based protein and are therefore a tasty and affordable alternative on a meat-free day.

At the moment, the majority of our protein comes from animal food sources, while plant-based proteins are better for the environment and our health. The protein transition is the shift from animal protein to plant-based protein. Legumes play an important role in this transition.

For warm use, only heat; do not boil.

Microwave: pour or spoon the pouch into a bowl, cover and place the bowl in the microwave for approximately 2 minutes (depending on the power of your microwave).

Pan: pour or spoon the pouch into a pan and heat over low heat, stirring occasionally.

Also delicious cold, straight from the pouch.

See the packaging for more preparation tips.

The dark specks in the packaging are caused by natural minerals in the lentils that react with oxygen and the packaging. Because we do not add any preservatives or artificial additives to our products, this natural process can occur. The dark specks are harmless and do not affect the taste or quality of the product.

For safety reasons. When scooping out a glass jar with a metal spoon, there is a (small) chance that you tap the spoon against the jar, causing a small piece of glass to break off. To prevent this, we recommend using a wooden or plastic spoon. This is advice to prevent glass from ending up in your vegetables, which is why we include it as standard on our products.

Heat the contents of the jar in a small pan over the heat. Do not let it boil and drain the vegetables only after heating.

You can also heat the product in the microwave. You can drain the vegetables before heating and heat them for approximately 30 seconds in a bowl (depending on the power of your microwave). Visit our recipes page on this website for our delicious recipes.

Legumes, such as beans and peas, contain a lot of protein. When heated, these are released, causing foam to form. This is entirely natural and also occurs with fresh beans or when preparing pea soup, for example. The proteins can be slightly bitter, which is why it is often recommended to skim off the foam or to drain the product well after preparation.

Yes, HAK vegetables are just as healthy as fresh vegetables. The vegetables are processed directly after harvest and are in the jar within an average of 5 hours. This preserves the vitamins and minerals. During the production process, HAK does not add any preservatives or artificial flavourings, colourings or flavour enhancers. This is why HAK vegetables are just as healthy as fresh vegetables.

No, absolutely not. HAK preserves its products through heating. This makes the use of preservatives or other additives unnecessary. And that is much tastier and healthier.

The label states “Best before end: see lid.” On top of the lid there is a year, e.g. 2024. This means that the product is at least good until the end of that year. After this date, the product may still be good, but we can no longer guarantee the quality.

After opening the jar, the unheated contents will keep for a few days in the fridge. It is important that the jar has been scooped out with a clean spoon, otherwise the remaining contents may spoil sooner.

Yes, virtually all HAK products are suitable for vegetarians and vegans. This means that those products do not contain ingredients of animal origin. There are only a few products in our range that are currently not suitable for vegetarians and vegans:

– Creamed spinach. This product is made with real cream and therefore contains lactose and milk protein.

– Taart & Vlaaifruit aardbeien. This product contains carminic acid. Carminic acid is a natural colouring of animal origin.

– Easy Eats Pasta Pomodoro. This product contains egg and gluten from the pasta.

– Easy Eats Teriyaki Noodles. This product contains egg and gluten from the noodles.

We are currently looking for suitable alternatives.

Most of our products are naturally gluten-free. We do not use any ingredients that contain gluten. In products that contain starch, we exclusively use maize starch.

For products containing lentils, we state that they may contain traces of gluten. This is related to possible cross-contamination in the supply chain. Lentils are grown on agricultural land where gluten-containing grains sometimes also grow or have grown. Although the lentils are carefully cleaned, we cannot fully exclude the presence of traces of gluten.

For this reason, we do not make a gluten-free claim on these products.
If you have coeliac disease or are very sensitive to gluten, we advise you to take this into account when making your choice.

First of all, it is important to emphasise that Nutri-Score, and therefore also the calculation of scores, is independent and scientifically substantiated. The food choice logo has therefore been developed independently of industry interests. As a manufacturer of vegetables and legumes, we consider it very important to stress this.

Nutri-Score is a balanced score that rewards proteins, fibre and the content of vegetables and fruit on one hand, and penalises excess sugars, salt and fat on the other. It is therefore a weighted score that indicates, in the overall balance, how healthy all ingredients together are. Nutri-Score therefore looks at the total nutritional value of a product. The total score determines which category a product falls into and which letter (A, B, C, D) and colour it receives.

This means that even if a product contains sugar or salt, it can still receive an A score as long as the sugar content is not too high and there are positive ingredients to offset it, such as fibre, protein, vegetables and fruit. Most HAK products receive an A score because they contain no added sugar, a small amount of salt and of course a lot of vegetables or fruit, fibre and/or protein. This varies per HAK product.

Here are a few examples:

Peas contain a small amount of salt and no added sugar. They achieve a solid A score due to the vegetable content and low salt levels.

Red cabbage with apple is a traditional recipe with vinegar to which a little sugar and salt are added. Due to the addition of sugar (but with vegetable and fruit content), this product falls into the light green B category.

Apple sauce has, through the sugar reductions we have managed to achieve in recent years, almost reached the point where no sugar is added (although apple sauce naturally contains sugars from the apples themselves). In addition, apple sauce contains fibre and of course fruit, with no salt. All of this together leads to an A score.

All Nutri-Scores per product are listed on the HAK website, with a clear explanation of how the Nutri-Score is calculated.

Nutri-Score has been developed for consumers to compare products in terms of composition and ingredients. Various studies across Europe have shown that when people do their daily shopping based on the Nutri-Score logo, they buy healthier products. For HAK, Nutri-Score is a very important tool to encourage people to eat more vegetables every day. For example, if one day you do not have time or feel like preparing fresh vegetables, you can easily choose from jarred vegetables, legumes in pouches or other convenient vegetables on supermarket shelves. At a glance, you can see the Nutri-Scores and know which products are healthy or slightly less healthy.

HAK has very deliberately embraced Nutri-Score as an independent and scientifically substantiated food choice logo that helps consumers with their daily shopping, to compare products and ultimately make healthier choices. Various studies across Europe have shown that when people shop using the Nutri-Score logo, they make healthier choices (than before).

For HAK, Nutri-Score is important for encouraging people to eat more vegetables every day, as we currently eat only half the amount we should (250g/day). So if one day you do not have time or feel like preparing fresh vegetables, you can still easily eat vegetables by using the Nutri-Score colour codes to choose between jarred vegetables, legumes in pouches or other convenient vegetables on supermarket shelves. At a glance, you know which products are healthy or slightly less healthy.

Of course, it is best and most effective if as many manufacturers and supermarkets as possible implement the Nutri-Score logo, as this allows consumers to make the most optimal comparison.

For more information about Nutri-Score:

https://www.consumentenbond.nl…

https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/…