Why I'm sceptical about the federal government's health star ratings

By Danielle Teutsch
Updated February 14 2016 - 2:09am, first published 12:00am
I'm fed up with feeling conned by the Trojan horse packaging of many products masquerading as healthy when they're actually loaded with sugar. Photo: 123rf
I'm fed up with feeling conned by the Trojan horse packaging of many products masquerading as healthy when they're actually loaded with sugar. Photo: 123rf

Health star ratings are a good concept – but I find it hard to trust them. Not since I picked up a bottle of Norco Mighty Cool banana flavoured milk, in a hurry recently. It has a 4.5 health star rating. When I later looked at the sugar content on the label it was 22g – that's more than five teaspoons, for a product clearly aimed at young children. There was a lot of swearing when I saw that. How on earth does that deserve a near-perfect health rating?

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