On 17 July 2020, the Forum considered advice from FRSC, finalised a response to all outstanding decision points, and endorsed the Review Implementation Plan and an implementation start date of 15 November 2020.
The HSR System Five Year Review – Implementation Work Plan is now live on the HSR website on the Review Webpage.
It continues to be voluntary which is a shame. Worse in my opinion is that control, management, evaluation, and governance has been moved to Food Standards ANZ; a body that doesn’t seem to make decisions that the food industry oppose.
There are several older topics on the Health Star system. Has anything changed?
Two interesting current product examples.
This first one is a total surprise. 4 Health stars for canned oysters in oil. It was a Xmas purchase. The second surprise was the size of the product. The smallest oysters I’ve ever seen. Each would comfortably fit on a 10c coin. I also wonder where they found those miniature crostini for the pack shot. There’s more than just the health stars that asks questions of the product and marketing.
Aldi’s dried cranberry product offers some hope. For all the high profile eco warriors efforts to promote the health benefits of American cranberries - just 2.5 health stars. Quite a surprise when pure juices can score 5 stars. For the consumers who do look at the health stars carefully, the answer is on the back of the pack. The product is ‘sweetened’ dried cranberries. 61% cranberry with the balance sugar and vegetable oil. Aldi cunningly omit the word ‘sweetened’ from the product description on the front of the pack. Incidentally ‘Sweet Vine’ also on the pack shot is nothing to do with the product characteristics. It’s the Aldi registered brand trade mark.
