Consumers have a right to know the healthiness and ingredients of the foods that they purchase. Labelling on packages, such as the Health Star Rating, or at the point of purchase can assist consumers to choose healthier products. Food labels, as well as being a source of information, can also be a source of marketing claims by food producers.
| Indicator | Result | Previous | Assessment* | What was measured? | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Health Star Rating** |
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Proportion of eligible packaged food and drinks that display the Health Star Rating |
25% (2019) |
21% (2018) 5.3% (2016) |
Packaged food and drinks (in the Nutritrack database) available in New Zealand supermarkets (2019), with change from previous data (2018, 2016). |
How healthy are Aotearoa New Zealand’s food environments? (2021) |
|
Average Health Star Rating of packaged foods that display the Health Star Rating on the label vs. those that don’t^ |
3.2 stars vs. 2.5 stars |
Packaged food and drinks (in the Nutritrack database) available in New Zealand supermarkets (2018) |
|||
Proportion of private-label (supermarket own-brand) packaged foods that display the HSR versus comparable branded-label packaged foods |
92.4% vs. 17.2% |
Packaged food and drinks (in the Nutritrack database) available in New Zealand supermarkets |
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Major fast-food outlets |
|||||
Proportion of fast-food chains that provide nutrition information for at least half of their products |
1/3 |
Information collected from company websites and brochures on serve size and nutrient data of products from the major fast-food chains (n = 27) in New Zealand (2020) |
How healthy are Aotearoa New Zealand’s food environments? (2021) |
||
Proportion of all fast-food products for which nutrient information is available |
30.4% |
Information collected from company websites and brochures on serve size and nutrient data of products from the major fast-food chains (n = 27) in New Zealand (2020) |
How healthy are Aotearoa New Zealand’s food environments? (2021) |
||
Nutrient content claims |
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Proportion of packaged food products with at least one nutrient content claim |
35% |
A sample of 7526 packaged food products available in NZ supermarkets (2014) |
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Proportion of less healthy^^ packaged food products with at least one nutrient content claim |
26% |
A sub-sample of all packaged food products that were classified as less healthy (n=3969) (2014) |
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Health claims |
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Proportion of packaged food products with at least one health claim |
15% |
A sample of 7526 packaged food products available in NZ (2014) |
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Proportion of less healthy^^ packaged food products that have at least one health claim |
7% |
A sub-sample of all packaged food products that were classified as less healthy (n=3969) (2014) |
*Green = ‘promotes health’; Orange = ‘needs improvement to promote health’; Red = ‘unhealthy’. For criteria, refer to the Indicator Assessment Criteria at the bottom of the page.
** The Health Star Rating is a trans-Tasman voluntary front-of-pack nutrition labelling scheme, which gives packaged food and beverage products a rating from 0.5 to 5 stars based on the product’s nutrients, ingredients and energy.
^ Any Health Star Ratings that were not displayed at the time of analysis were calculated using the HSR algorithm and nutritional information from Nutritrack.
^^For these purposes, the term ‘less healthy’ refers to products that the FSANZ Health Claims NPSC 2014 deemed ineligible to carry a health claim.
Key Recommendations
There is an obvious discrepancy between packaged food products that do and do not display the Health Star Rating, with the products that do display this information tending to be healthier than those that don’t. Almost all supermarket private label products do display a Health Star Rating.
For New Zealanders to be able to make informed decisions about the foods they purchase, information regarding the healthiness of all food products needs to be made available.
- Packaged food companies need to display the HSR on all eligible products regardless of healthiness. If by 2025 the HSR is displayed on less than 70% of target food products, the government needs to make the display of the HSR mandatory.
- Quick-service restaurants need to ensure that nutrition information Is available online or at point-of-sale for all products.
- The government needs to investigate the application of the Nutrient Profiling Scoring Criterion (NPSC) to restrict the use of nutrient content claims on packaged unhealthy foods (especially ‘irrelevant claims’ such as ‘no cholesterol’ claims on plant-based foods.
For more information
Reports
How healthy are Aotearoa New Zealand’s food environments? 2021 Full Report
Articles
Al-Ani HH, Davi A, Eyles H, Swinburn B, Vandevijvere S. Nutrition and health claims on healthy and less-healthy packaged food products in New Zealand. Br J Nutr. 2016: 1-8.
Gontijo de Castro T, Mackay S, Young L, Ni Mhurchu C, Shaw G, Tawfiq E, et al. Comparison of healthiness, labelling, and price between private and branded label packaged foods in New Zealand (2015-19). Nutrients. 2021 Aug 9;13(8):2731.
Mackay S, Eyles H, Gontijo de Castro, Young L, Ni Mhurchu C, Swinburn B. Which companies dominate the packages food supply of New Zealand and how healthy are their products? PLoS ONE. 2021 Jan 16;16(1): e0245225.
Ni Mhurchu C, Eyles H, Choi Y-H. Effects of a voluntary front-of-pack nutrition labelling system on packaged food reformulation: The Health Star Rating System in New Zealand. Nutrients. 2017 Aug 22;9(8):918.
| Indicator Assessment Criteria | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Metric | |||
Display of Health Star Rating on packaged food and drinks |
≥ 80% |
40 – 79% |
<40% |
Average Health Star Rating of packaged foods and drinks with HSR present vs. absent on label |
Equal when HSR is present and absent on label |
0.5 star difference between HSR present vs. absent on label |
>0.5 star difference between HSR present vs. absent on label |
Proportion of fast-food chains that provide nutrition information for at least half of their products |
100% |
80 – 99% |
<80% |
Proportion of all fast-food products for which nutrient information is available |
>80% |
40 – 80% |
<40% |
Proportion of ‘less healthy’ packaged food and drinks carrying nutrient content claims |
0 – 10% |
11 – 30% |
>30% |
Proportion of ‘less healthy’ packaged food and drinks carrying health claims |
0% |
1 – 10% |
>10% |
IAC table legend