Dietitians Australia welcomes the opportunity to comment on the Health Star Rating (HSR) system as Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) opens its first formal call for submissions.

We remain supporters of mandating the HSR system as part of a suite of evidence-informed measures to improve population diets and the food environment to maximise public health impact.

Evidence suggests front-of-pack labelling systems encourage positive reformulation of products and supports healthier decision-making by consumers (WHO 2022; UNICEF 2022). However, there are elements that need to be strengthened to improve our food system and nurture consumer trust.

Mandating the HSR system is a necessary step to fulfill its intent to enable consumers to access and compare nutrition information between products which has been limited under the voluntary system by a low uptake by industry and their participation targets having not been met.

To learn more, please download our full submission.