Food labels should give every Australian the information they need to make informed choices in line with the Australian Dietary Guidelines and should not be misleading or confusing.
Food for Health Alliance, along with leading public health and consumer organisations across Australia and New Zealand, strongly supports the introduction of mandatory added sugar labelling on packaged foods and drinks.
There is a growing scientific and community concern around the impact of added sugar on health. With 72% of school age children and 47% of adults in Australia exceeding the recommended amount of sugar in their diet, it is important that consumers have access to accurate information about how much added sugar is in the food they buy.
Australians want this information. Recent research shows that 80% of Australian adults agree that added sugar labelling should be included on food products.
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The Health Star Rating System (HSRS) is a voluntary, interpretative, front-of-pack labelling (FoPL) system which rates the healthiness of products across categories using a 5-star scale and aims to encourage consumers to make healthier food choices.
The HSRS was introduced in July 2014 as a voluntary scheme. In 2019 the Health Star Rating Advisory Committee completed the five-year review of the HSRS. Read the report.
Food for Health Alliance is calling for the HSRS to be mandated across all packaged foods so that consumers can easily compare products in each category. The HSRS also needs to be improved to more accurately penalise nutrients that consumers should be avoiding or limiting in their diets.
Food for Health Alliance would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which we live and work. We would also like to pay respect to the elders past and present and extend that respect to all other Aboriginal people.