By Dana McCauley
Australians could finally have access to information about how many "empty calories" are in the soft drinks and packaged foods they buy, after state and federal ministers ordered a review to consider mandatory "added sugar" labelling.
Shoppers would see a confronting 16 teaspoons of sugar on the label of a 600-millilitre Coca-Cola bottle if the advice of health experts is followed by the Australia and New Zealand Ministerial Forum on Food Regulation.
State and federal food ministers from Australia and New Zealand, who sit on the forum chaired by the Morrison government's minister for sport Richard Colbeck, announced the move on Monday while releasing the final report of the five-year review of the Health Star Rating System.
The ministers "agreed to request that Food Standards Australia New Zealand review nutrition labelling for added sugars, noting that the option to quantify added sugars in the nutrition information panel best met the desired outcome," the forum communique said.
The announcement was welcomed as "a really important step for added sugar labelling in Australia" by The George Institute for Global Health's research fellow Alexandra Jones.
"The United States is one of the few other countries that have done this – so it would be great if we followed," she said.
Regulators are considering mandating 'added sugar' labels. Credit: Ryann Cooley
"Added sugars are empty calories and a major contributing factor to the obesity epidemic, rising rates of type 2 diabetes and tooth decay."
The sugar-sweetened beverage industry is lobbying to be able to keep displaying an "energy" icon that displays the number of kilojoules per serve instead of a health star ratings icon, but is open to putting "added sugars" in the more detailed nutritional information panel.
Public Health Association of Australia chief executive Terry Slevin said the labelling of sugars on packaged foods and drinks "needs to be enacted" and must be incorporated into the calculation of health star ratings - as recommended by the independent health star ratings review.
Health advocates have long argued that food labelling, which currently lumps together naturally occurring sugars with added sugar, made it difficult for consumers to weigh up how good or bad a product is for them.
The review called for the energy icon - displayed on many soft drinks without showing any star rating - to be abolished, saying it is "not well understood by consumers and does not provide interpretive information to support choice".
The icon shows the number of kilojoules "per serve" - instead of "per 100g" - using an "industry agreed serving size".
However, the review, by MP Consulting, found it was likely that confectionary items with multiple serves per packet "would be consumed as a single serve".
It found health star ratings had an overall positive effect in helping consumers to make more informed choices, and called for it to be made mandatory if it did not reach a target 70 per cent participation rate.
Manufacturers of more than half of products displaying the star rating labels had reformulated their products to improve their rating, the report said.
Senator Colbeck said decisions on food regulation were considered jointly by the Australia and New Zealand Ministerial Forum on Food Regulation and that a formal decision on the food star rating report would be made at its next meeting, expected in November.
Australian Beverages Council chief executive Geoff Parker said FSANZ was "the most appropriate agency to review nutrition labelling for added sugars in conjunction with a range of stakeholders, including industry".
"All non-alcoholic drinks, whether sugar sweetened or no sugar, are a refreshing addition to a balanced diet when enjoyed in moderation," Mr Parker said.
"Our Members have been actively engaged in reformulation and introducing smaller pack sizes over the last five or so years.
"The industry’s Sugar Reduction Pledge, which aims to reduce sugar across the industry by 20 per cent by 2025, is another significant example of how the industry can play a part in encouraging healthy lifestyles."