AusSMC > News > CRUNCH TIME: Aussie experts push for Health Star Ratings to be made mandatory as voluntary phase nears its end

CRUNCH TIME: Aussie experts push for Health Star Ratings to be made mandatory as voluntary phase nears its end

By Olivia Henry, the Australian Science Media Centre

It’s been nearly ten years since Australia introduced our Health Star Rating system on food packaging – a voluntary system to help Aussies make healthier food choices.

But Aussie experts are calling for this system to be mandatory, as overall uptake sits around 36% - a dismal number compared to the 70% uptake the Australian Government hoped to achieve by November 14 this year.

Dr Alexandra Jones from the George Institute for Global Health and UNSW Sydney told the AusSMC she’s been tracking the Health Star Labels since they were introduced a decade ago.

The system, which appears as up to a five star rating on the front of food packets, is informed by an algorithm where foods lose points for unhealthy components of the food, such as energy content, saturated fat, sugar and salt, but gain points back for other aspects, such as protein content, and fibre, as well as fruit, vegetable, nut, and legume content.

It is most useful for comparing similar foods – such as comparing different breakfast cereals. But without broad uptake of the voluntary label system, it is difficult for consumers to compare and find what product is right for them.

“What we do know from 10 years of voluntary operation is that voluntary uptake has failed,” Dr Jones said.

One of the biggest problems, she added, is that due to the voluntary nature of the labels, most manufacturers that choose to include the health star labels are doing so on their higher rated products.

“Only 16% of half-star products have put the label on … there are thousands of half-star products … that are not showing it,” Dr Jones said.

“So if you have a higher scoring product, you’re more likely to put the label on voluntarily.”

While some might argue it can be too hard or expensive to update and reprint food labels to include this kind of information, Dr Jones’ research on labelling changes found that when the compulsory Country of Origin labels were introduced in 2018, companies reprinted their labels but still opted not to include the stars.

The Health Star Rating System is a joint initiative of the Australian Federal, State and Territory Governments, as well as the New Zealand Government, requiring collaboration from Food Ministers across these regions to review any changes and proposed mandates.

Dr Bridget Kelly, Associate Professor of Public Health Nutrition at the University of Wollongong, said all the evidence shows this rating system could be an effective policy, and that it would really support consumers to make healthier food choices.

Latest government updates have suggested consumers may have to wait until 2029 or later – 15 years since the system’s 2014 launch – before the rating will appear on all eligible products.

But researchers and dieticians alike have long advocated for mandatory labels and argue these health labels are crucial to help guide the public when making healthy food choices.

“We've seen, certainly in the past, that there has been commitments to other positive nutrition policies that have fallen through at the final hurdle. We certainly don't want to see that happen,” Dr Kelly said.

“It really must happen now.”

CEO of Dietitians Australia, Magriet Raxworthy, told the AusSMC that many people do not fully understand how to navigate a food label.

Although this knowledge could be improved with public education, she added, there is room to both educate the public about food labels while also mandating a system to help people quickly and easily assess what foods are right for them.

“Does education come first, or does a mandatory label? That's not the question,” she said. “It is actually doing both.”

“This is a very helpful, very simplified tool to be able to help people to navigate. Until it's mandatory, people will continue to struggle out there to understand how to make good choices,” she added.