Confused about the health star rating system?

In my opinion, the current system for rating the healthiness of foods in Australia does not accurately reflect the nutritional value of foods and is misleading to consumers. 

The system was created by the government, in consultation with Food Standards Australia and New Zealand and aimed to “provide convenient, relevant and readily understood nutritional information and/or guidance on food packs to assist consumers to make informed food purchases and healthier eating choices”.

The creators of the system state that it was designed to compare the nutritional profiles of products within similar categories, however this is not well understood among shoppers and the slogan “the more stars, the healthier” leads many consumers to believe that if a product is rated 3.5 stars or above, it is a healthy option.

The health star rating focuses largely on the amount of saturated fat, sugar and salt in a product. These are important factors, however the system doesn’t give any consideration to the processing methods or amount of synthetic ingredients and additives in the product. Given the fact that many people (particularly children) are adversely affected by artificial colours, flavours and preservatives, it seems crazy that additives are not considered when making decisions about the healthiness of foods.  

When zero sugar raspberry Fanta is considered healthy (3.5 stars) - despite containing a chemical cocktail of artificial flavours, colours, sweeteners and preservatives - there is something not quite right…

It seems that dairy products have been treated a little unfairly by the health star system too. Many yoghurts have high ratings but I was surprised to find that Woolworths light sour cream and cream cheese have a rating of 0.5 stars and Woolworths tasty cheese slices are rated 2.5 stars. I understand that cheese and sour cream contain saturated fat but I would rather my kids ate cheese and crackers than a highly processed 3.5 star rated snack food any day!

Another problem with the health star system is that it is voluntary. Food manufacturers are not legally obligated to display a star rating on their packaging. Not surprisingly, many of the manufacturers of the most unhealthy products (e.g. lollies, highly processed snack foods) have not opted into the program…

Where does this leave consumers? 

My advice is to ignore the ratings and instead flip the package over and look at the ingredients list. If the product has sugar as one of the first ingredients and/or contains artificial colours, flavours or additives, give it a miss!