If like me it boggles your mind to see that a bag of Grain Waves gets 4 stars while a bag of frozen berries - the superfood itself - gets 4.5, regular milk is rated 4 stars while iced chocolate gets 4.5, and a frozen pizza and a bag of veggie soup have the same rating of 3.5, here’s why.
Consumer NZ spokeswoman Belinda Castles explains that the system is designed to compare similar products that you’ll find sitting next to each other on the shelf.
“So if you’re buying a breakfast cereal, choosing one with more stars should be a healthier option. The same goes for tomato sauce - one with more stars will be a healthier choice. But health stars shouldn’t be used to compare cereals with chips,” she tells the Herald.
“Some categories, like oils and spreads, also have different criteria for calculating the health stars, which makes it even more important to only compare similar foods.”
But it’s up to the manufacturers to calculate the ratings on their own products using something called the “Health Star Rating Calculator”. Foods that are lower in sugar, salt or saturated fat and higher in fibre, protein, fruit and vegetable or nut and legume content get higher ratings.
Late last year, the health star system was updated to get tougher on products with high salt and sugar content, but what you may not know is that added sugars aren’t included in this - cereal, muesli bars, fruit juice or fizzy drinks, desserts and sauces.
Castles says it’s “disappointing” that “added sugars continue to get a free pass”.
“Although total sugars are now more heavily penalised, there’s no change to the way added sugars are treated. This isn’t consistent with dietary guidelines which recommend we reduce added sugars in the diet.”
So, why do some products with high salt and fat levels still get a high rating?
“Health stars were designed to give an overall picture of a food’s nutritional profile taking into consideration negative nutrients like saturated fat and sodium, and balancing them against positive aspects of a food, like protein, fibre and percentage of fruit, vegetables, nuts and legumes,” Castles explains.
The rating also doesn’t show how much processing a product has gone through, so you’ll need to refer to the ingredients for that.
Consumer thinks health stars should be mandatory for manufacturers to help buyers understand what they’re looking at on the shelf. You’ll notice that countless products don’t have a rating at all - usually the most processed - meaning producers are “cherry picking” and only rating their healthier products.
“Health stars on food can help consumers make healthier choices, especially when they are faced with an overwhelming range of similar-looking products making a range of nutrient and health claims. It can also incentivise companies who use it to improve the nutritional profile of their products to achieve more stars,” Castles adds.
Until then, keep in mind when you’re browsing for snacks that a 4 or 5-star bag of chips may not be all it’s cracked up to be.
