Health Star Rating System - What is it?

We are bombarded with so much information about food, brands and nutrition, it’s hard to determine what’s genuinely good for you through all that noise. Recently, Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) have introduced a rating system which will help in determining the nutritional benefits (or lack of) from different food products.

The Health Star Rating (HSR) system uses stars to indicate the nutritional benefits of the product, with more stars indicating higher nutritional benefits. There are a lot of companies about to introduce this rating system, including Uncle Toby’s, which will make comparing products on the supermarket shelf much easier. However, it’s important to note that it is not compulsory to include this rating system on food packaging, so foods with low or no nutritional value are unlikely to include it. At its most basic, the HSR will tell you how nutritionally beneficial the food is. More specifically, the HSR system is broken down into 5 categories;

• Energy
• A nutritional benefit selected by the company e.g. Protein, Fibre etc.
• Total Sugars
• Saturated Fat
• Sodium

This gives a good overview of the nutritional information of the product by rating the product on both the benefits that can be gained from it, as well as the negative nutritional elements of sugars, saturated fats and sodium. For more detailed information about the HSR, have a look at some of these links:

• Health Star Rating Guide
• The Statement from the Assistant Minister for Health, Fiona Nash

Does the Protein Bread Co think that this rating system is a good way to measure nutrition?

Yes we do! The old method of showing the %DI on packaging was helpful, but in the end just a bunch of numbers which are hard to interpret. This new rating system is easy to read, and easy to look further into if you’re interested. However we will note that it’s important to still look at other aspects of the product, as the HSR does not include an analysis of things like preservatives, whether the product is organic or not, or where the ingredients are sourced from.

What rating did the Protein Bread Co products get?

We are very proud that our products receive a 4.5 rating or higher!

• Protein Bread & Protein Bread Mix: 5 stars
• Date & Walnut Bread: 4.5 stars
• Protein Pancake Mix: 4.5 stars

'How does this compare with other products?

Uncle Toby’s Rolled Oats received a 5 star rating, and Monster Muesli received 3.5 stars and higher from their products. Currently, Protein Bread is the only bread available that has a 5 star rating. There is a calculator on the FSANZ website, and this is what Catherine Saxelby found using it: The calculator is quite complicated to use, but if you’d like to have a go, here’s the link to the Microsoft excel file. We think this is a great step forward for the food industry as it makes it even easier for everyone to make healthy choices in the supermarket, especially as more companies opt to display their Health Star Rating.

Stay tuned for more blog posts about the specifics on the energy, protein, sugars, saturated fat and sodium in The Protein Bread Co’s products!

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