Food Policy and Public Health Assignment 2022

Running head: FOOD POLICY AND PUBLIC HEALTH
FOOD POLICY AND PUBLIC HEALTH
Name of Student:
Name of University:
Author Note

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One of the widely deployed tool, the front of pack nutrition labels are famous in the
public good marketing in Australia and New Zealand. This essay highlights the topic of the front
of packing nutrition with the case of the health rating system (HRS) in New Zealand and
Australia (Healthstarrating.gov.au. 2019). The thesis statement of the essay argues with the
competing worldviews and scientific uncertainties for the causes and the solutions of the policy
towards the dietary risk factors and effective implementation. The essay used news articles for
thorough analysis indicating the development and influence of the Health Star Rating System
(HSR) over the dietary risk factors in Australia.
1. Describe FOPNL as a policy action
The FOPL or the Front of Package labels are one of the efficient tools that are used for the
increase of the awareness of customer regarding the nutritional quality of food and
encouragement of healthier choices. The main aim of FOPL is to facilitate the understanding of
the consumer regarding the nutrition quality of food across the social and cultural contexts
(Maganja et al. 2019). FOPL might fit into a comprehensive food policy of the type of dietary
and food healthiness by providing information to the consumers regarding healthier food choices
within the nutrition labels and encourage the industry for the reformulation of their products
towards a much healthier option.
In the context of the Healthy Food Partnership that involves the public health organizations, the
government and the food industry, it is believed that it is very much necessary for this
arrangement of the governance to achieve the goal of the partnership that is an improvement of
nutritional status and health of the Australians and New Zealanders (Jones, Shahid and Neal
2018). This is necessary for the partnership to achieve its goal for the sake of public health in
Australia. According to the reports, the dietary factors like saturated fats, a high proportion of

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salts, consumption of artificial sugar followed by the inadequate consumption of vegetables and
fruits are some of the leading cause of the burden of disease in Australia resulting to premature
death and disability within the country.
2. Examine the HSR system as a policy action to promote healthy food selection
i)
The star rating is calculated by assigning the baseline points for the saturated fat, energy, content
of sodium and total sugar per 100gm followed up by awarding of the modifying points for the
FVNL (Fruit, Vegetables, Nuts and Legume Content), fiber and protein. This is then calculated
based on an overall score by the subtraction of the modifying points from the points in the
baseline (Healthstarrating.gov.au. 2019). The calculation by nutrient profiling states that lower
score reflects more nutritious content in the food product. In the case of category 1, which is the
beverages, the product which scored <1 are eligible for the health claim display. For category 2
that is food, products scoring <4 are eligible while for category 3 that is oil, products scoring <28
are eligible
a) Nutrient profiling is the science related to the ranking and the classification of the foods on the
basis of their nutrient composition. The health star rating of the food by the nutrient profiling is
performed by using “Guide towards the Health Star Rating Calculator” which is endorsed by the
government of Australia.
Apart from the use of nutrient profiling in FOPNL, it is widely being used as part of the number
of applications over the nutrition policy (Mhurchu, Eyles and Choi 2017). The nutrient profile
models are furthermore used for the evaluation of the nutritional food quality within the

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nutrition-related policies by the utilization of the algorithms that take in consideration of the
amounts of the nutrients in the product for characterizing the healthfulness degree of it by scores.
b) Within the Health Star Rating, the nutrients that are considered is divided into risk nutrients
and positive nutrients. These nutrients are scored and used to rate individual foods within the
Health Star Rating on the basis of their nutritional values. The positive set of nutrients includes
dietary fibers, calcium, protein, minerals or cereal vitamins (Lawrence, Dickie and Woods
2018). The risk nutrients contain sodium or salt, unprocessed sugars, saturated fats which are
linked to chronic disease and obesity. The score of the nutrients of the food by the Health Star
Rating is calculated by 5 essential steps.
1st – identification of the category of the food
2nd – calculation of the Health Star Rating baseline points (On the basis of table from Appendix
II)
3rd – Calculation of the final score = (Baseline points – Modifying points)
Final HSR Score = Baseline points - (V points) – (P points ) – (F points)
4th – Assigning the HSR category (As per Appendix III)

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Source - The Conversation (2019)
ii) In the aim of helping the consumers to make healthier choices, New Zealand and Australia
introduced the HSR system. But, there have been several pieces of evidence that have reported
regarding the ineffectiveness and harm caused by the system. There lies loopholes within the
HSR system and the misconception of the consumers regarding choosing the products with the
highest score, considering it to be the healthiest (Hamlin and McNeill 2016). Most consumer
does not know that the nutrient score is given on the basis of ingredients. An unhealthy food
might secure a high health star rating by evening out its bad components like saturated fat by a
good ingredient like fiber. Another ineffectiveness of the HSR system is that there lies
scepticism regarding reliability, the authenticity and the effectiveness of the HSR system.
3. Analyze the competing worldviews (if any) among stakeholders towards the HSR system
i) Nutrients are used for generating energy, detecting and responding to the environment,
movement, excreting, breathing (breathing), growing and reproducing. For the body to operate
and sustain general health, six categories of nutrients are needed. These are carbs, lipids,
proteins, water, vitamins and minerals. These are minerals.
Food, on the other hand, is what contains nutrients. It is any of the substances for consumption
for providing nutritional support to an organism. The food contains essential nutrients like fats,
proteins, minerals and vitamins. Towards the context of public health relationships and nutrition,
the difference among food and nutrient is that the later is found within the former. The nutrients
can only be found in the food, and the benefits of the nutrients which are essential for the
organism is only possible by the consumption of food.

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According to Jones, Rådholm and Neal (2018), the diet oriented world view towards nutrition is
the balanced consumption of the adequate and functional nutrients that organism require for a
healthy life. It is to be understood that food contains both positive and risk nutrients. The
decisive set of nutrients includes dietary fibers, calcium, protein, minerals or cereal vitamins.
The risk nutrients include sodium or salt, unprocessed sugars, saturated fats. The diet oriented
world view is thus a positive aspect towards public health and nutrition since it helps in the
reduction of heart disease and cholesterol level and blood pressure among humans.
ii) Technically:
Nutrient profiling can be applied to informing front-of-pack nutrition labelling. This can be done
by focusing on the quality of the food instead of the range of nutrients and quantity (Talati et al.
2016). Nutrient profiling will be essential in front-of-pack nutrition labelling for educating by
mentioning the quality of food as per ratings for the users regarding their choice of good or bad
food.
Food profiling can also be applied for informing front of pack nutrition labelling. This can be
done by mentioning the factors regarding the authenticity of the food. Factors like country of
origin, fertilization process, storage, cultivation procedure, the variants used, the timing of
harvest or slaughtering and the exact age of the product can be mentioned in the front-of-pack
nutrition labelling (Healthstarrating.gov.au. 2019).
Diet profiling can be implemented in front-of-pack nutrition labelling by highlighting the foods
which rich nutrients and zero risk nutrients like fat and saturated sugar by a colour symbol in the
label. This colour symbol on the food packet will segregate the diet rich foods from the other
ones.
iii) The main actors engaged with the HSR system are the stakeholders and independent
consulting. One of the main actors among them is mpconsulting. According to the findings of the
draft, the reviews and the recommendations of mpconsulting over the HSR system, their interest
can be served by the nutrient profiling for informing the HSR system (The Conversation. 2019).
This can be done by improving the traffic light system in the HSR system, which confuses the
consumers. Often food which is healthy received red light which confuses the customers as red
alert of the unhealthiness of food. Further confusion includes the thought that particular label is
meant for specific disease or diet.
4. Following on the above, discuss strengths and weaknesses of FOPNL and HSR system
and future revision priorities

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i) Front-of-pack nutrition labelling has various strength and weaknesses. The strength of front-
of-pack nutrition labelling includes symbols, labels and the icons over the food that communicate
the healthfulness of the nutrients of the product to the consumer for the aim of their better and
healthier choice of food (Willis 2017). Another strength is that front-of-pack nutrition labelling
helps the government of the country towards influencing the health of the public in a non-
enforcing manner and also the producers regarding their freedom.
Some of the weaknesses of the front-of-pack nutrition labelling include the factors such as the
complex labelling of the food products makes the customer difficult to understand and also there
have been rising questions regarding the effectiveness of the nutritional information regarding
the guidance and behavior of purchase (Jones, Rådholm and Neal 2018). One of the significant
obstacles targeting the weakness of front-of-pack nutrition labelling is the lack of the
fundamental knowledge of the nutrient that leads to the difficulty to the consumer for
understanding the complex information related to nutrients on the labelling.
The health star rating system also has some of the strength and weaknesses
The weakness of the HSR system firstly lies in the way it is calculated. The system makes
recommendation on the basis of the whole foods rather than focusing over the individual
nutrients (Khandpur, Swinburn and Monteiro 2018). The major weakness of HSR system is the
flawed approach towards the nutritional science resulting in many of the junk foods being
marked with high stars.
Besides, the strengths of the HSR include the voluntary industry system which was optimized for
use on all foodstuffs presented to retail consumers in the packaged, manufactured and processed
food.

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The following include some of the weaknesses in the HSR scheme. Because of this, the balance
of packaged products is not equivalent, resulting in a more inclusive shopping experience.
Moreover, the Star system does not assist in determining whether the item includes poor GI,
significant minerals, elevated Nutrient Density, or precious probiotics. In addition, it does not
recognize critical nutrient data. As per DRAFT - Health Star Rating System Five Year Review
Report (2019), one of the system's main weaknesses is that all goods are measured at the same
weight or quantity and not at the size of the part. This helps to compare two products with the
same star, but not when comparing two distinct goods with distinct nutrient dimensions.
ii) The health star rating system needs revision. This can be revised in the following aspects.
a. Technical aspects of the nutrient profiling algorithm – Modification for the HSR
algorithm for nutrient profiling is required for authentic assessment of the nutrition over
the food packs for assisting consumers in making a healthy eating choice.
b. Applying a warning-oriented system – It would be a more progressive option to highlight
the discretionary foods as ineligible to display and replace their real stars with warning
oriented symbols.
c. Aligning with a food profiling classification system – The HSR system needs to align
with the food profiling classification system for determination of the eligible foods to
make health claims over packaging and nutrients. One of the finest example is NOVA
that categories food as per extent of food processing and nutrients (Dunford et al. 2019).
NOVA is one of the valid tool for public health research and nutrient.
d. Aligning with a diet profiling system – The supermarkets should align with the
improvement of the HSR system regrading the diet profiling of healthy food as per the
stars and nutritional ratings. Some of the dietary guideline recommendations include

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selecting the nutrient-dense foods, following a healthy pattern of consumption, limiting
the food with excessive sugar, saturated fats and high sodium (Lawrence, Dickie and
Woods 2018).
e. Governance arrangements - government, should initiate in changing the HSR algorithm
for ensuring the achievement of policy for identification of healthier food within the
dietary guidelines. The mandatory initiatives by the government is responsible for the
arrangements which is critical for the revision of the HSR system. These includes
government funding, development of critical infrastructure, improvement of monitoring
and responsiveness of the system.

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References
DRAFT - Health Star Rating System Five Year Review Report. 2019. mpconsulting, pp.4-112.
Available at: http://healthstarrating.gov.au/internet/healthstarrating/publishing.nsf/content/
D1562AA78A574853CA2581BD00828751/$File/Health-Star-Rating-System-Five-Year-
Review-Draft-Report.pdf [Accessed 28 Sep. 2019].
Dunford, E.K., Ni Mhurchu, C., Huang, L., Vandevijvere, S., Swinburn, B., Pravst, I., Tolentino‐
Mayo, L., Reyes, M., L'Abbe, M. and Neal, B.C., 2019. A comparison of the healthiness of
packaged foods and beverages from 12 countries using the Health Star Rating nutrient profiling
system, 2013–2018. Obesity Reviews.
Hamlin, R. and McNeill, L., 2016. Does the Australasian “health star rating” front of pack
nutritional label system work?. Nutrients, 8(6), p.327.
Healthstarrating.gov.au. (2019). Health Star Rating - Health Star Rating. [online] Available at:
http://healthstarrating.gov.au/internet/healthstarrating/publishing.nsf/content/home [Accessed 28
Sep. 2019].
Jones, A., Rådholm, K. and Neal, B., 2018. Defining ‘unhealthy’: A systematic analysis of
alignment between the Australian dietary guidelines and the Health Star Rating
system. Nutrients, 10(4), p.501.
Jones, A., Rådholm, K. and Neal, B., 2018. Defining ‘unhealthy’: A systematic analysis of
alignment between the Australian dietary guidelines and the Health Star Rating
system. Nutrients, 10(4), p.501.

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Jones, A., Shahid, M. and Neal, B., 2018. Uptake of Australia’s Health Star Rating
System. Nutrients, 10(8), p.997.
Khandpur, N., Swinburn, B. and Monteiro, C.A., 2018. Nutrient‐based warning labels may help
in the pursuit of healthy diets. Obesity, 26(11), pp.1670-1671.
Lawrence, M., Dickie, S. and Woods, J., 2018. Do nutrient-based front-of-pack labelling
schemes support or undermine food-based dietary guideline recommendations? Lessons from the
Australian Health Star Rating System. Nutrients, 10(1), p.32.
Lawrence, M., Dickie, S. and Woods, J., 2018. Do nutrient-based front-of-pack labelling
schemes support or undermine food-based dietary guideline recommendations? Lessons from the
Australian Health Star Rating System. Nutrients, 10(1), p.32.
Maganja, D., Buckett, K., Stevens, C. and Flynn, E., 2019. Consumer choice and the role of
front-of-pack labelling: the Health Star Rating system. Public Health Res Pract, 29(1),
p.e2911909.
Mhurchu, C., Eyles, H. and Choi, Y.H., 2017. Effects of a voluntary front-of-pack nutrition
labelling system on packaged food reformulation: The health star rating system in New
Zealand. Nutrients, 9(8), p.918.
Talati, Z., Pettigrew, S., Hughes, C., Dixon, H., Kelly, B., Ball, K. and Miller, C., 2016. The
combined effect of front-of-pack nutrition labels and health claims on consumers’ evaluation of
food products. Food quality and preference, 53, pp.57-65.

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The Conversation. 2019. Why the Australasian Health Star Rating needs major changes to make
it work. [online] Available at: https://theconversation.com/why-the-australasian-health-star-
rating-needs-major-changes-to-make-it-work-114581 [Accessed 28 Sep. 2019].
Willis, O. 2017. What you need to know about the health star rating on foods. [online] ABC
News. Available at: https://www.abc.net.au/news/health/2017-10-12/what-you-need-to-know-
about-the-health-star-rating-on-foods/9040200 [Accessed 28 Sep. 2019].

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Appendix I:
Figure - The graphic option for Health Star Rating, the proportion of the displayed product and
the preference of consumer for each option
Source – DRAFT - Health Star Rating System Five Year Review Report. (2019)

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Source : DRAFT - Health Star Rating System Five Year Review Report. (2019)
Source : DRAFT - Health Star Rating System Five Year Review Report. (2019)

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Appendix II –
Health Star Rating Baseline points for the Category 1, 1D, 2, 2D foods

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Health Star Rating Modifying points for the Category 3 and 3D foods
Modifying points includes the HSR Vegetables (V) points, Fiber (F) points and Protein (P)
points.

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Appendix III -
Source : Healthstarrating.gov.au. (2019)