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Can Health Star Ratings be better?

Have you seen inconsistencies in health stars? Are you struggling to compare products that are missing a rating?

 

Tell us how you’d like to see health stars applied and we’ll use your comments to improve our submission to the government review.

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Make health stars work for you

Health Star Ratings are designed to help you make better choices at the supermarket, but the system isn't perfect. Loopholes mean you might see unhealthy products receiving a high Health Star Rating, or companies not using health stars honestly.

The government has released their draft review of the Health Star Rating system and thanks to your calls for change, big reforms are on the table, including:

  • 5-star ratings by default for all fruit and vegetables

  • Better drinks labelling (no more meaningless ‘energy ratings’)

  • Better requirements for applying health stars to as many products as possible

  • A comprehensive database of health stars to monitor the system

  • Greater government influence over how Health Star Ratings are calculated, with less industry input.

While these changes are major improvements, there is still more to do. We’re putting together our official response to the review, and we want your help. Help us out by answering two quick questions – we’ll use your feedback to inform our submission, and help get these changes over the line.

Join thousands of Australians calling for better food labels

FAQs

The Health Star Rating system rates the overall nutritional profile of a packaged food or beverage and assigns it a rating between 0.5 and 5 on the front of the pack. It’s a quick and easy way to compare similar products at the supermarket and make smarter choices.

The rating is based on an algorithm that looks at overall kilojoules, then saturated fat, sodium and total sugars. The calculator then weighs these ‘negative’ aspects against a food product’s virtues – including its fruit and veg content, potential nuts or legumes, protein and in some cases, dietary fibre – to come up with an overall rating.

Government monitoring of the system so far finds it’s mostly working well. Research confirms most people like Health Star Ratings and want to see them rolled out across more products. And 1 in 3 people who are aware of health stars have used them to switch to a healthier product they wouldn’t normally buy.

But health stars can be made better, and that’s why we’re calling for big improvements to the way the system works. The trouble is, industry is pushing back – that’s why we need your help to get these major changes in place.

We want to see:  

  • Health stars made mandatory on all packaged products

  • Added sugar included in the Health Star Rating calculation

  • Greater penalties for sugar content in food

  • Less industry influence over the Health Star Rating system

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