Is it Time to Mandate the Health Star Rating System: Protecting Australian Consumers
A new report from The George Institute for Global Health underscores the urgency of making the Health Star Rating (HSR) mandatory to safeguard consumer health in Australia.
Health experts have raised alarms about the food industry’s ability to use labelling and marketing tactics to obscure the harmful ingredients in ultra-processed foods, leveraging its substantial political influence.
As state, territory, and federal health and food ministers convene, there is growing concern that the current voluntary food labelling regimes fall short of international standards for warning consumers about industrial food processing techniques.
At the last meeting of food ministers in May, it was revealed that only 32% of products in Australia displayed the front-of-pack HSR, far below the set targets.
Assistant Minister for Health, Ged Kearney, who chairs the food ministers’ meeting, expressed her disappointment to Guardian Australia: “I’ve been clear about my disappointment that industry has not met uptake targets for health star ratings and the need to consider mandating the system if final uptake targets are not met.”
Read the full article published by Natasha May and Luca Ittimani journalists from the Guardian.
Australia’s Food Industry Falling Short on Health Star Rating Targets
The 2023 State of the Food Supply Report, released by The George Institute for Global Health, paints a grim picture of the food industry’s compliance with HSR targets.
The annual analysis reveals that only 36% of products on supermarket shelves that should carry the HSR do so, significantly missing the Government’s 50% uptake target for 2023, which was established following a formal review of the HSR in 2019.
Dr. Alexandra Jones, Senior Research Fellow in Food Policy at The George Institute, authored an article emphasising the industry’s failure to meet these targets. The Department of Health is expected to release its update on progress in early 2024, which will likely mirror The George Institute’s findings, further stressing the need for mandatory HSR labelling.
Update Your Health Star Labelling Information with rev™ Branding
As a leading digital brand agency in the food and beverage segment, rev™ Branding has been assisting suppliers and brand manufacturers with data quality, data governance, and syndication services for over 20 years.
We specialise in helping companies publish product labelling data, including HSR information, to industry and government bodies and retailer chains via platforms like SKUvantage (Salsify) and the National Product Catalogue (GS1).
If you are struggling to comply with the new on-pack labelling data requirements to meet the eCommerce projects of your customers, we invite you to book a call with Robert Durrant, CEO of rev™ Branding. Our team is dedicated to ensuring your product labelling meets all necessary standards and helps protect consumer health.
Schedule a call with Robert Durrant to discuss how we can support your compliance efforts and enhance your brand’s transparency and trustworthiness.
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