Food manufacturers are expected to fall well short of voluntary targets for health star rating labels \u2013 originally hoped to hit 70% by today. <\/p>\n
The rating is determined by an algorithm, on a scale of zero-point-five to five stars, based on a product\u2019s nutritional content, comparing foods within one category. <\/p>\n
Following a review in 2019, uptake targets were set, with a goal to hit 50% of intended products in 2023, 60% the next year and 70% in November 2025. <\/p>\n
The Ministry of Primary Industries said the most recent data, from November 2024, had the uptake at around 33% of intended products. <\/p>\n
New Zealand Food Safety deputy director-general Vincent Arbuckle said uptake monitoring for 2025 would now begin, with that data available next year. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt is anticipated in 2026 that food Ministers in New Zealand and Australia will consider whether to ask Food Standards Australia New Zealand to raise a proposal to consider mandating the system.\u201d <\/p>\n
Nutritionist and M\u0101ori health researcher Professor Lisa Te Morenga said uptake was strong for healthier products with higher star ratings. <\/p>\n
“For unhealthy foods, no company is going to be that keen to put a half star or one star on a food if they don’t have to,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
But Food Safety Minister Andrew Hoggard said businesses could also be wary of investing in a system that could change. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I heard from a number of businesses, they just wanted certainty around what\u2019s actually going to be required on labels.\u201d <\/p>\n
Hoggard said a possible mandate would be discussed at the next face-to-face meeting with his counterparts from Australian states. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt will be a decision to start the process to look at mandating, which will then pull together all the data, what might it cost, etc, etc. And then a final decision is probably made a year later.\u201d <\/p>\n
He said a range of factors would inform his input into the decision, such as whether the scheme worked to incentivise healthier choices, and whether there would be extra cost. <\/p>\n
\u201cI wouldn’t want to be doing anything that’s going to increase food prices right now,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Consumer NZ favoured mandating the scheme, saying food manufacturers have had many years to adopt the system and were so far \u201cwoefully short\u201d. <\/p>\n
Te Morenga agreed mandating the health star labelling was the best option. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt’ll encourage manufacturers to make their products healthier,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt will give the consumers the information they need to choose healthy food products. And it’ll also level the playing field for all food manufacturers.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Food manufacturers are expected to fall well short of voluntary targets for health star rating labels \u2013 originally…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":134497,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[144,134,111,43,139,69,135],"class_list":{"0":"post-134496","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-food-drink","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-newzealand","13":"tag-nz","14":"tag-politics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134496"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134496\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/134497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=134496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=134496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}