Labelling Health Star Ratings on Packaged Food can Encourage People to Choose Healthier Options

HSR labels on packaged food can improve diets by encouraging consumers to choose healthier products and prompt manufacturers to reformulate their products with more nutritious ingredients.

Labelling packaged food with HSR information can improve product nutrition by encouraging manufacturers to reformulate their products with healthier ingredients. If made compulsory, it can make a big difference, according to a new study. The findings of the study are published in the journal PLOS Medicine.

Product nutrition labels in the supermarkets of Sydney and Auckland were analysed by a team from the University of Auckland, the University of Melbourne, and the George Institute for Global Health to find out if Health Star Rating system (HSR) made a difference in how the food manufacturers formulate their food.

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‘Making HSR labels on packaged food mandatory can improve diets by encouraging consumers to choose healthier products and prompt manufacturers to reformulate their products with more nutritious ingredients.’

Nutritional information label is mandatory on the back of packaged foods in Australia and New Zealand, but HSR labels are voluntary.

Studies suggest that HSR labelling helps to make some products healthier. The New Zealand and Australian Ministerial Forum on Food Regulation started the voluntary HSR on front of the pack. They published an HSR calculator to decide how many stars the food gets. HSR labels intend to improve diets by helping consumers choose healthier products and prompting manufacturers to reformulate their products.

The study examined the reformulation outcomes of HSR labels. Researchers analysed nutrition and labelling information on packaged products in four major supermarkets in New Zealand and Sydney.

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They trailed the nutrition information of 58,905 different packaged foods to determine if HSR labelling led to changes in nutrient composition. Unlabelled products were scored using the HSR calculator to allow control comparisons.

Products that displayed the HSR information on-pack were 6.5 and 10.7 percent more likely to increase their HSR score by 0.5 stars than those that didn't reveal the stars in Australia and New Zealand.

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New Zealand products with HSR displayed a four percent drop in salt content, while Australian products dropped by 1.4 percent. Similarly 2.3 percent decrease in sugar content in New Zealand and 1.1 percent decline in Australia was observed.

The healthiest products, which scored four to five stars, showed little healthier reformulation. Most reformulation happened in less healthy products with HSR labels.Similar patterns were observed in both countries.

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Dr. Laxman Bablani, Lead author and University of Melbourne Research Fellow, said while the changes sounded small, even modest changes could lead to significant health impacts at a population level.

"If the labels were compulsory, the result could be much greater, as HSR adoption by the unhealthiest products was fewer than half that of the healthiest products," Dr. Bablani said.

In 2019, around 15 percent of products that scored two stars had HSR labels in both countries, compared to more than 35 percent of those that scored four stars and above.

A famous flavoured cracker now has six percent less fat and about 10 percent less sodium per 100g than before it adopted HSR labels in 2016, taking it from 1.5 to 2 stars.

Many instant soup varieties decreased sodium and energy to increase their rating from 3 to 3.5 stars.

A huge supermarket branded barbeque sauce cut sugar by 4.5g per 100g (9.6 percent) in 2017 after adopting HSR labels.

Professor Ni Mhurchu stated, "Our study suggests that the total effect of HSR on supporting healthier population diets could be markedly increased if many more products adopted it."

"If HSR labels were made compulsory, the quality of packaged foods would improve, and consumers may make better choices about healthy and unhealthy foods."

Source-Medindia