New ABS figures show Aussies are filling their trolleys, and stomachs, with junk food such as sausages, biscuits and chocolate

New figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show discretionary foods accounted for 37.5 per cent of dietary energy in Australia in 2024–25.

The updated Consumption of Selected Foodstuffs figures show that more than one in three kilojoules consumed in the national diet came from foods recommended to be eaten occasionally, like meat pies, biscuits, chocolate and beer.

Australian dietary guidelines say one serve of discretionary food is about 600 kilojoules.

The new figures show more than 3,000 kilojoules per person per day came from discretionary foods.

The figures also showed Australians fell well short of recommended intake levels across the five major food groups: grains and cereals, vegetables and legumes, fruit, milk, yoghurt and cheese, and lean meats and alternatives.

Australians’ consumption of fruit and lean meats came closest to the recommendations.

Australians eat 1.3 serves a day of fruit, but that is still below the recommended 2.0 serves. For lean meats, Australians consume 1.8 serves a day, below the recommended 2.5 serves.

Australians are also simply buying more, with food and non-alcoholic beverage sales rising by 341,600 tonnes from the year before.

Among drinks, bottled water consumption rose 5 per cent and soft drinks rose 2.6 per cent on a daily per person basis.

Coconut water and energy drinks were among the fastest-growing categories, rising 46 per cent and 17.8 per cent respectively.

In 2023, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation analysed 235,000 Healthy Diet Score surveys completed by Australians.

It also found the nation consumes about 28 serves of junk food a week.

Global Centre for Preventive Health and Nutrition researcher Dr Benjamin Wood said more must be done through governance.

“Rather than blaming individual consumers, let’s advocate for governments and corporations to take responsibility,” he told Deakin University.

“Let’s look upstream and target the excessive power of food corporations and corrupted decision-making spaces, whilst also supporting production methods.”