Juice and dried fruit lose out in health star rating overhaul

Changes to Australia’s health star rating system has led some natural food products — including sultanas and fresh orange juice – to lose their five star rating, causing angst among growers.

Mitchell, 7, drinking chocolate and strawberry flavoured milk, a treat he enjoys occasionally. New changes to Australia’s health star rating system give flavoured milk a four star rating, but just two stars for fresh orange juice.

AUSTRALIA’S orange juice industry is hoping the stars will align on Friday to save it from a health star rating downgrade it says could consign the already ailing sector to the history books.

And cheese could be saddled with its one-star health rating for the next four years, keeping it below cheese Twisties in the health stakes.

An overhaul of Australia’s health-star rating system came into effect this month that has seen ratings change on many popular products – from dairy-based desserts to jellies – but despite this, industry says discrepancies remain.

online artwork nov 25 star rating

The new system has stripped 100 per cent fresh fruit and vegetable juices of their five-star rating and instead slapped them with as little as 2.5 stars based on a new calculation that gives greater priority to sugar and energy content.

But there is hope another vote will be cast on the matter at an Australian and New Zealand Ministerial Forum for food regulation meeting on Friday, where Federal Agriculture Minister David Littleproud will put forward a proposal to give juice a four-star rating.

Growers have said a health star rating demotion would be the “nail in the coffin” for an industry already struggling with low farmgate prices.

Citrus Australia chief executive Nathan Hancock said the industry has been at pains to point out the abundance of nutrients in fresh juice that the new calculation failed to register, making any score downgrade at odds with the Australian Dietary Guidelines.

“Diet coke is not healthier than orange juice, and that’s resonating pretty strongly,” he said.

While orange juice has dominated discussion, dried fruits and many cheeses will continue to be considered less healthy than snacks such as potato chips.

There is not likely to be any movement on cheese until a full review of dietary guidelines is completed in 2024.

Australian Dairy Products Federation executive director Janine Waller said it was “not acceptable we live with one star for the next four years”.

“Dairy is already the least consumed food group after fruit and vegetables,” she said.

“When we are not getting enough dairy as it is we have a massive public health issue.”

While the health-star rating was designed to compare like foods (ie. yoghurt with yoghurt, cereal with cereal) Ms Waller feared there was still a lack of awareness of this that could prompt poor choices.

“You don’t want people turning away and picking a muesli bar or chips and thinking that’s necessarily a better choice than cheese,” she said.

Dietitian and Nutrition Australia board member Teri Lichtenstein agreed more public education was needed but hoped there would be fewer anomalies in the future.

“It’s one tool consumers can use to try to make healthier choices for them but it certainly shouldn’t be used in isolation,” she said.

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