Selective industry adoption of a voluntary front-of-pack nutrition label results in low and skewed uptake: 10-year results for the Health Star Rating

• Published in: European journal of clinical nutrition 2024-10, Vol.78 (10), p.916-918
• Main Authors: Keaney, Mariel, Maganja, Damian, Barrett, Eden, Pettigrew, Simone, Jones, Alexandra
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 692/700/1538; 692/700/2814; Australia; Brief Communication; Clinical Nutrition; Consumer Behavior - statistics & numerical data; Descriptive labeling; Diet, Healthy - methods; Diet, Healthy - statistics & numerical data; Disease; Epidemiology; Food; Food Industry - methods; Food Labeling - methods; Food Packaging - methods; Global health; Health care; Health promotion; Health Promotion - methods; Humans; Internal Medicine; Labels; Marketing - methods; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Metabolic Diseases; Nutrition; Nutrition Policy; Nutritive Value; Packaged food; Public Health; Ratings & rankings
• ISSN: 0954-3007; 1476-5640; 1476-5640
• DOI: 10.1038/s41430-024-01480-2

Front-of-pack nutrition labelling (FOPNL) on packaged foods is recommended by the World Health Organization to promote healthier diets. Our aim was to assess uptake of Australia’s FOPNL, the Health Star Rating (HSR), overall and by HSR score received (0.5 (less healthy) to 5.0 (more healthy) in 0.5 increments) after ten years of voluntary implementation. In a sample of 21,197 products, we found HSR uptake of 37% overall in 2023. Uptake was unevenly distributed, with 24% of products with an HSR ≤ 3 displaying the label, compared to 53% of products scoring ≥3.5 ( p