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Food regulators have classed fruit juice as less healthy than diet cola under new guidelines confirming Australian health star ratings (HSR) on food packaging will focus more on sugar content.
Friday's decision by the Australian and New Zealand Ministerial Forum on Food Regulation, made up of state and territory ministers, will reduce the five-star rating for fruit juice to as low as two stars.
The Federal Government's aim in developing the ratings — which rank food from half a star to five stars, depending on its nutrients — was to give shoppers an easy way to identify better choices of packaged and processed foods.
Baseline points are allocated according to a food or drink's energy, saturated fat, sugar and sodium, and then "positive" aspects such as dietary fibre and protein are taken into account to determine the product's overall health rating.
The decision to lower the health star rating for fruit juice, based on its sugar content, is a blow for fruit producers and left federal Agriculture Minister David Littleproud infuriated.
Read more here. (Australian Broadcasting Channel)
Friday's decision by the Australian and New Zealand Ministerial Forum on Food Regulation, made up of state and territory ministers, will reduce the five-star rating for fruit juice to as low as two stars.
The Federal Government's aim in developing the ratings — which rank food from half a star to five stars, depending on its nutrients — was to give shoppers an easy way to identify better choices of packaged and processed foods.
Baseline points are allocated according to a food or drink's energy, saturated fat, sugar and sodium, and then "positive" aspects such as dietary fibre and protein are taken into account to determine the product's overall health rating.
The decision to lower the health star rating for fruit juice, based on its sugar content, is a blow for fruit producers and left federal Agriculture Minister David Littleproud infuriated.
Read more here. (Australian Broadcasting Channel)