Citrus Australia to fight after fruit juice loses five-star health rating

Citrus growers say the entire health star rating system needs a revamp after fruit juice was knocked out of favour.

Citrus producers fear people will stop buying fruit juice out of fear it’s unhealthy.

CITRUS growers say the health-star rating system needs an overhaul after fruit juice last week lost its five-star status.

One hundred per cent fruit juice is now considered no better than soft drink, according to the Australian and New Zealand Ministerial Forum for food regulation, which voted to strip the product of its rating.

Citrus producers fear the decision will harm the $800 million industry, with concerned consumers to stop buying fruit juice if they think it’s unhealthy.

Under the new guidelines, juice will be rated between 2.5 stars – less than diet soft drink – and four stars.

The Dietitians’ Association of Australia advises on its website that juice should be limited to 125ml serves, and that “most types naturally contain a similar amount of sugar and kilojoules to soft drinks”.

But Citrus Australia chief executive Nathan Hancock said the decision showed the process for determining ratings was flawed, as it made no distinction between natural sugar and added sugar, nor the other nutritional benefits of fruit.

“For diet-cola to be rated higher than a preservative-free, no added sugar juice is just mindless,” Mr Hancock said.

“It just proves there’s deficiencies with this algorithm and the boffins have it wrong.”

NSW and South Australia supported Federal Agriculture Minister David Littleproud’s amendment to rate juice at four stars, but were outvoted by the other state and territory governments and New Zealand.

Mr Littleproud said it was an “illogical regulation”.

“In all of this, the forum lost the point of encouraging consumers to make healthy choices,” he said in a statement.

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Victorian Health Minister Jenny Mikakos – who did not support the higher juice rating – said the Victorian Government supported healthier food and drink options.

“Victorians should be given the information they need to make healthy choices – that’s why we have legislated kilojoule labelling, advocated for added sugars labelling on infant food and continue to support the national Health Star Rating,” she said.

Mr Hancock said industry would continue working with Mr Littleproud’s office and lobbying for a change to the system.

“If a consumer is getting a message that juice is only a 2.5-star product when that is only based on the sugar component, they’re getting the wrong message,” he said.

“They’ve taken a blunt instrument to this and it’s really going to affect our industry.”

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CITRUS AUSTRALIA OPINION: RATING STUNS INDUSTRY