Health stars: Declaring soft drink better than fresh juice is illogical

Declaring Diet Coke to be healthier than freshly squeezed orange juice doesn’t just lack logic. It makes a mockery of the entire health-star rating system, writes Ed Gannon.

Australia’s federal and state authorities now say fresh orange juice is healthier than Diet Coke. Picture: Jim Trifyllis

WELL, it is official — Diet Coke is healthier than freshly squeezed pure orange juice.

And, for that matter, Cheese Twisties are better for you than actual cheese.

After months of argy-bargy the final decision has been made on the health-star rating of pure orange juice.

And despite the best efforts of the citrus industry, they have not been able to win their argument that pure fruit juice is better for you than sticky black stuff in a can.

At the final meeting of state and federal authorities last week, it was decided fresh orange juice would receive a rating of 2.5 stars, down from its previous five stars. Diet Coke has a rating of 3.5 stars.

The changes reflect a push to put more emphasis on the amount of sugar in food and beverages.

However, no distinction is made between natural and added sugars.

A last-minute proposal by the Federal Government to take into account vitamins and fibres in food and drink was rejected by a majority of states.

And that included Victoria, one of the biggest citrus-growing states in Australia.

I have watched this debate for the past year and still cannot work out the logic of the thinking, let alone the decision.

I am yet to hear a strong argument for why fresh orange juice deserves such a poor rating. Remember, this is fresh, pure orange juice, not the stuff that comes from imported concentrate and is topped up by spoonfuls of sugar.

The citrus industry is even more baffled, leading Citrus Australia to say the health-star rating system has become a “propaganda” tool for the anti-sugar lobby.

“It’s now obvious that we have a national health propaganda instrument manipulated by anti-sugar lobbyists and a rating system not based on facts but instead voted on down party lines,” said Citrus Australia chief executive Nathan Hancock.

It has become a bizarre system where Twisties are deemed healthier than tasty cheese and dried fruit gets a lower rating than fresh fruit. (Just some free advice to those at last week’s meeting; dried fruit is just fresh fruit that has been, er, dried.)

This debacle shows the health-star rating has become a joke.

It destroys trust in the rating system, with shoppers now more likely to ignore any rating on a food or drink.

It joins the Made in Australia logo as something that, despite its best intentions, appears open to manipulation and can be viewed with a great deal of scepticism.

And for that Victoria and the other states that downgraded pure fruit juice deserve zero stars.

• Ed Gannon is Editor of The Weekly Times

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