Table 2.

Main theme 1: type of consumer involvement

Sub-theme	Quote (identification reference, country, stakeholder group)
1a. Direct or indirect involvement	‘It would have to be a multidisciplinary body and within that body should be one of the consumer representatives’ (41, SE, GOV)
	‘I think consumers already participate through the surveys done with them, as the FFQ or the diet histories’ (56, ES, NGO)
1b. Which consumers to involve?	‘They've just got a list of consumer organisations, and actually it's a much broader sector than that. So say for example they tend not to think of environmental organisations as being consumer organisations’ (68, UK, NGO)
	‘Predominantly the relatively educated consumer [will be more aware of dietary guidelines] because he will also understand them right away’ (22, GE, GOV)
1c. Timing of involvement	‘… [the consumers] can of course not be a part of what the dietary guidelines should be, but how one should give such advice and guidelines’ (32, NO, NGO)
	‘Perhaps at the first stages, someone representing the consumers, i.e. a Consumer Association, should participate to guide and give their opinion. At a final stage, when the draft is done, then we could test it with the consumers’ (57, ES, IND)

SE, Serbia; GOV, government; ES, Spain; NGO, non-governmental organisation; UK, United Kingdom; GE, Germany + D-A-CH countries’ recommendation representatives; NO, Norway + one Danish Nordic nutrition recommendation representative; IND, food industry.