CHOICE has welcomed the decision by food and health ministers from the federal, state and territory governments to give the final sign off on the Health Star Rating Scheme, and called on food manufacturers to start rolling out the ratings to help consumers make healthier choices.
“Food and health ministers from around the country have given go-ahead to the Health Star Rating Scheme, which is great news for consumers who have waited too long for an effective front-of-pack nutrition labelling scheme,” says CHOICE CEO Alan Kirkland.
“The Health Star Rating Scheme will help shoppers compare products, at-a-glance, and CHOICE strongly supports the ministers’ decision to help consumers make healthier choices.
“CHOICE’s work evaluating products with the Health Star Rating Calculator shows that the rating scheme is going to provide a strong incentive to food manufacturers to improve the nutritional profile of their products and get more stars.
“We know that many shoppers are confused and frustrated by the current state of food labelling, in which the complex, numerical information on the back of packs is rendered even more confusing on those products which carry the food industry’s voluntary Daily Intake Guide percentages.
“Now that ministers have given the final sign off to the Health Star Rating Scheme, responsibility shifts to food manufacturers to start rolling out the star ratings on their product ranges. There is a great PR opportunity waiting for the early adopters, as we’ve seen with Monster Health Food Co which rolled out the first star rating in April.
“CHOICE is today calling on food companies to ditch the dodgy Daily Intake Guide and embrace the Health Star Rating to help consumers make informed decisions about what they eat.”