Australia’s leading paediatric nutritionist calls on authorities to take legal action against multinationals
Australia faces a "tobacco moment" as experts call for legal action against some of the nation’s most popular treats.
A leading paediatric nutritionist is calling on Australian authorities to follow the lead of a major US city and take legal action against multinationals for promoting unhealthy foods as healthy.
Mandy Sacher said the “landmark lawsuit” by authorities in San Francisco to hold ultra-processed food (UPF) manufacturers legally accountable for marketing unhealthy foods as healthy is “about setting a global precedent”.
San Francisco City lawyer David Chiu filed the lawsuit in the San Francisco Superior Court on behalf of the state of California, seeking unspecified damages for the costs that cities and counties bear in treating residents whose health has been harmed by consuming their products containing UPFs.
The lawsuit accuses the companies of alleged “unfair and deceptive acts” in how they market and sell their products, alleging engineered addiction, manipulated health messaging and targeted children.
Mr Chiu argued the companies knew their food made people sick but sold it anyway, violating the state’s unfair competition and public nuisance laws.
Ms Sacher told news.com.au the defendants in the lawsuit, including Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Kraft Heinz, Mondelez International, Nestlé USA, Kellogg and Mars Incorporated, are many of the same companies and products which continue to receive three, four and five-star health ratings in Australia.
“These companies are being sued in the US on the grounds that they engineered foods that harm human health,” she said.
“UPFs are linked to all of these adverse health outcomes.
“It’s putting a huge strain on taxpayers and on families globally because of chronic illnesses like premature death, cardiovascular risk, increasing stroke, cancers, anxiety and depression. In Australia, the same types of products are receiving high Health Star Ratings (HSR) under an algorithm that the companies helped create. That is not regulation, it’s captured policy.”
Ms Sacher said the Australian Government should follow the US, who have signalled an intention to remove harmful additives from the American food supply, by taking legal action against these UPF giants.
Australia launched the HSR in 2014, but Ms Sacher argued it is a flawed system.
“We are actually the only food rating system in a developed country that’s been developed in collaboration with major food companies,” she said.
“There is a very big difference between consulting different public health experts, food companies and key stakeholders – but we actually designed our algorithm in collaboration with them.
“It’s meant to guide the Australian public on what is better for their families,” she said.
“There is no way that these food manufacturers cannot know that they are filling ultra-processed products with cheap ingredients that are known to potentially cause harm and then marketing them as healthy for the everyday Australian family.”
News.com.au contacted the Australian offices of the seven food manufacturers named for comment.
Ms Sacher said Australia is failing international best practice.
A recent petition addressed to Federal Health Minister Mark Butler, calling for a full algorithm review of the HSR as the Government prepares to make the system mandatory in 2026, garnered more than 14,500 signatures.
A spokesperson from the Department of Health and Aged Care, responsible for the HSR system, told news.com.au the system “is transparent and evidence-based, aligned with World Health Organisation and Codex Alimentarius guidance on front-of-pack nutrition labelling systems.”
“While the department receives positive and negative feedback about the HSR system, the criticisms generally arise from a lack of understanding of the Health Stars,” the spokesperson said.
“It’s important to remember that the HSR system doesn’t seek to do everything – it is designed to cut through the clutter and help consumers choose between similar products, like two different breakfast cereals, but not a breakfast cereal and a yoghurt.”
They said the HSR system underwent a major independent review in 2019, where the food ministers accepted all recommendations.
Following this, in 2020, food ministers agreed that if uptake did not reach at least 70 per cent of intended products by November 2025, they would consider mandating the system.
The spokesperson confirmed that the latest figures indicate uptake is unlikely to meet the target.
“Food ministers have subsequently asked Food Standards Australia New Zealand to start preparatory work to inform a future decision on mandating the system,” the spokesperson said.
Latest Australian figures revealed two out of three adults and one in every four children were overweight or living with obesity.
“Something is broken and we need to speak up. We need to tell the Australian Government this is not good enough,” Ms Sacher said.
“We need to be protected. We don’t need you to protect these food companies. We need to put our health before profits”.
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Originally published as Australia’s leading paediatric nutritionist calls on authorities to take legal action against multinationals
