Feature: New Health Star Rating crushes fruit growers as juice loses health halo

For those trying to eat well, Health Star Ratings should help shoppers make healthy choices at the supermarket. Milk is good. Potato chips are bad. Wholegrain cereal is good. Chocolate is bad. In theory this should make the shopping simple — steer yourself towards products with the highest number of stars and you shouldn’t be able to go far wrong. But, ridiculous as it sounds, according to the latest Health Star Ratings, if you want to be healthier you would be better off having artificially sweetened diet cola for breakfast rather than a glass of 100 per cent orange juice. And it’s not just shoppers who have been left confused. Australian farmers and juice processors have been left to count the cost of what they say is a baffling way of working out the healthiest things to eat and drink. Health Star Ratings — found on the packaging of some 10,300 Australian products — were developed by the Federal Government in 2014 to give shoppers a simple way to identify the nutritional profiles of packaged and processed foods. They are intended to provide a quick and easy method of comparing and choosing healthier foods. They are rated from half-a-star up to five stars and the more stars there are, the better the choice. But following a five-year review by the Australian and New Zealand Ministerial Forum on Food Regulation, the rating on fresh fruit and vegetable juices was recently slashed to as low as two due to their high sugar content. Among them, 100 per cent orange juice — rich in vitamin C, folate and thiamin but also carrying a fair amount of fruit sugars — had its rating halved to 2.5 stars. By comparison, diet cola, containing artificial sweeteners, carries a 3.5 star rating — officially deeming it more healthy than pure juice.The change has been made with the best of intentions. Health Star Ratings were developed because Australia has one of the highest rates of obesity in the world and the simple comparison system was expected to help consumers make healthier choices. Sixty-seven per cent of adults and one in four children (24.9 per cent) are overweight or obese. And up to 94 per cent of Australians aren’t eating the recommended servings of fruit and vegetables each day. This low fruit and vegetable intake could be helped by drinking pure fruit juice, with the official Australian Dietary Guidelines suggesting a 125ml glass of juice could be a substitute to a serve of whole fruit. But with artificially sweetened drinks now considered more “healthy” there are concerns this will discourage juice consumption, potentially further reducing the population’s already low fruit and vegetable intake. Nutrition website Foodwatch says 100 per cent fruit juices provide vitamins such as vitamin C, minerals such as potassium and beneficial plant chemicals, but without the fibre. There’s also 11 per cent fructose (natural fruit sugar). Foodwatch states juices are not low-calorie drinks. One 250ml glass of pure orange juice contains 87 calories — the equivalent of two oranges. And juice is so easy to drink — which can be a problem in itself. “Drink juice and you won’t feel as full. Drinking just isn’t as satisfying as eating the same amount of kilojoules (calories) in food. It’s called ‘liquid calories’ and there’s mounting evidence to connect it to the obesity epidemic,” Foodwatch says. Innaloo-based dietitian Margaret Hayes, of the Nutrition Specialists, says she is not a fan of any type of juice. She says it should never be considered a primary nutritional source, citing its high sugar and low fibre content. “There is much higher nutritional value in eating a piece of fresh fruit and drinking a glass of water,” she said. But Ms Hayes says to rate juice below that of diet drinks lacks common sense, sending a confusing message to consumers. Wembley mum Stephanie Bertholet says it is odd that 100 per cent orange juice could be rated as less healthy than drinks containing artificial chemicals. “Perhaps juice should never have carried the full five stars given the high sugar content, but to now rate it less healthy than drinks with artificial sweeteners is not logical,” she says. Ms Bertholet says while aware of the health stars, she had rarely used them when choosing what to buy, instead using common sense about the nutritional qualities of certain foods. She prefers her two boys, Harrison, 8, and Jensen, 6, to eat whole fruits and drink water, which they do most days. However, they will occasionally have a treat when out, with Ms Bertholet saying she will continue to opt for pure juice over artificially sweetened drinks. Nathan Hancock, chief executive of Citrus Australia, argues that the star ratings should be classed as an anti-sugar measure rather than as an overall health rating, and this should be clearly advertised. He is calling for a review of the system to rectify the flaws. “(The existing system) does not provide enough information for consumers to make educated decisions; it does not recognise the importance of fresh fruit and vegetables in the diet; and it is easily manipulated by manufacturers of highly processed goods, who simply adjust their additives to beat the system,” Mr Hancock says. The health of farm businesses and juice processors is also set to suffer. A decline in fruit sales appears a certainty after orange juice’s lower Health Star Rating put the squeeze on the 1900 citrus farmers across Australia who pump $850 million into the economy. “Reduced sales will also lead to significant job losses right across the supply chain, including juice factories and transport, and less Australian brands,” Mr Hancock says. Federal Agriculture Minister David Littleproud, who opposed the big downgrade and pushed for all juices to receive four stars based on their nutritional value, agrees farmers will pay the price. “Obviously, if mums and dads go to the supermarket and start turning their back on vegetable and fruit juices, it will have a serious impact, not just for farm gate, but also those jobs in processing,” he says. Mr Hancock expects juice-processing businesses will opt out of the voluntary Health Star Rating system, but the industry will nonetheless be unfairly compromised by the negative message sent to consumers. While SA, NSW and Victoria are Australia’s major citrus producing States, oranges are also grown in WA near Harvey and Moora, with production increasing every year. Among those feeling the pinch is Swan Valley-based Michael Brothers Juice, which produces a range of fresh cold-pressed fruit and vegetable juice, and has watched orange juice sales shrink in recent years. “Orange juice, in particular, had been demonised for several years, resulting in falling sales,” owner Martin Michael says. Five years ago, Michael Brothers would buy about five tonnes of oranges a week from growers for cold pressing. That has fallen to two to three tonnes weekly, because condemnation of the juice due to its high sugar content had affected its demand. Mr Michael expects the Health Star Rating downgrade will mean further declines in demand, ultimately meaning his business will buy less from growers. “We have not seen the effects from the downgraded rating yet, but it will have an impact — I’m guessing our orange juice production will drop by a further 10-15 per cent,” he says. Mr Michael thinks the ratings lack credibility and does not include them on the Michael Brothers’ labels, but fears the message they send to consumers will drive down demand. WA citrus grower Joseph Ling, of AgriFresh at Dandaragan, says the State’s citrus growers produce around 10,000 tonnes of oranges a year. Fruit with moderate surface damage to their skin, which doesn’t sell well as fresh produce, is often used for juicing, he says. With fears about even less juice being drunk, there will be a smaller market for these seconds oranges, increasing food waste. “This incorrect decision on the Health Star Rating is going to impact our bottom line, as consumers shy away from drinking natural (no sugar added) juice. More juice-grade fruits will need to be dumped,” Mr Ling says. National Farmers Federation chief executive Tony Mahar says the new ratings add further pressure to an industry already battling a chronic worker shortage exacerbated by COVID-19 border closures. “Farmers are right now struggling to get the workforce they need to pick and pack fruits such as oranges,” Mr Mahar says. “The last thing they need is an obviously flawed Health Star Rating system, telling shoppers that their product has a reduced nutritional value.”