The 5 year review of the Health Star Rating for prepackaged foods was concluded in late 2019 and from this review, ten recommendations were made for the Federal Government to review. Despite the push from public health advocates for this system to be mandatory, the Federal Government will retain this as a voluntary system but give support for all ten of the recommendations. Recommendations that will be implemented include:

• definitions for minimally processed fruits and vegetables, and unsweetened flavoured water;
• sugars and sodium levels in the HSR Calculator so that they incur higher penalty points;
• Dairy categories reviewed
• ratings to be more aligned to Dietary Guidelines

 

If the uptake by food manufacturers has not significantly increased in the next 3 years we can expect this to be made mandatory. There is a target for 70% uptake on targeted products by end 2023. Read more here and contact us in case of questions or feedback.

Posted on 19 August 2020