Health Star Rating system - Draft Five Year Review Report

Overview

The five year review of the Health Star Rating (HSR) system is currently underway. The review will consider if and how well the objectives of the HSR system are being met, and identify options for improvements to the ongoing implementation of the system. The review is being conducted by Matthews Pegg Consulting (mpconsulting), an independent consultancy.

The review will broadly consider the impact of the system and, if necessary, how the system could be improved. The review will also consider communication, system enhancements, monitoring and governance.

A draft of the five year review report, which outlines the findings of the review and proposes ten recommendations for the HSR system and one additional proposed option for sodium, is now open for consultation.

In this consultation period, mpconsulting are seeking targeted feedback on the draft recommendations – in particular, any comments on inaccuracies, factual errors and additional considerations or evidence that hasn't previously been identified. A copy of the report is available below, under Related Documents. Three test calculators to test proposed changes to the HSR Calculator are also available below. 

Please note that the closing time and date of this consultation are final, and that there can be no extensions granted for submission of feedback under any circumstances. 

 The Five Year ReviewThe Five Year review

Since the review commenced, mpconsulting have:

• reviewed 483 public submissions, with a report published in October 2017;
• met with a wide range of stakeholders including government, public health and consumer organisations, academics and industry across Australia and New Zealand;
• met with the Health Star Rating Advisory Committee to observe operations and governance arrangements;
• liaised with the  Health Star Rating Technical Advisory Group to consider the technical aspects of the review;
• released a paper in January 2018 providing background information about findings to date, principles guiding recommended changes to the Health Star Rating system and the direction of the review;
• facilitated nine public forums across Australia and in New Zealand, over February to April 2018, to explore key issues in detail and identify options for addressing issues;
• released a consultation paper in October 2018 identifying 10 key issues relating to the products on which the HSR appears and the way that stars are calculated, and proposing a range of options for addressing identified issues; 
• sought public and private feedback on specific potential system enhancements over October 2018 to January 2019, including the facilitation of public sessions in Sydney, Auckland and Melbourne in November 2018. 

These extensive consultations and comprehensive review activities, along with modelling of proposed options for the Health Star Rating Calculator, have informed the draft review report.

What Next

Following this consultation period, the review report will be revised and a final report will be provided to the Australia and New Zealand Ministerial Forum on Food Regulation in mid 2019. Ministers will respond to the report and the recommendations in late 2019.

Confidentiality of Submissions

Submitters may request that their submission be treated as confidential. Following this consultation process it is intended that non-confidential submissions will be made available in full upon request. A list of non-confidential submissions will be provided for reference.

How to provide your views

Interested parties are invited to provide submissions via this online survey.

You may choose to respond to all recommendations or only to those which are of interest to you. By clicking on Continue at the bottom of each page, you will be returned to the Consultation Contents page and can use the contents to navigate to each issue. When you are done, click on Finish at the bottom of the Consultation Contents page.

This consultation period will be open from 25 February 2019 until midnight 25 March 2019.