Food giant Mondelez International has pointed to a "litany of errors" in the proposed star system in the face of strong criticism of its products from Choice.
Choice, which applied the current version of the Health Star Rating Calculator to a range of foods, said that it had found “few stars among the offerings from food giant Mondelez, the parent company of Kraft, Cadbury, Nabisco and Oreo”.
“Choice did three product comparisons and found the Health Stars shot down the Mondelez product each time,” says Choice campaigns manager Angela Cartwright.
“We looked at two string cheese products popular in the playground and found the Mondelez product scored a paltry two stars. In contrast, Bega’s Stringers got a whopping four and a half stars.
“Choice calculated star ratings for another lunchbox favourite, peanut butter, which you might assume wouldn’t vary too much. However, we found a real star in Sanitarium’s natural peanut butter which scored five stars, well ahead of Mondelez’s Kraft peanut butter with three stars.”
“Perhaps the biggest surprise for us was the cracker star-off, with Mondelez-owned Ritz bottoming out at half a star while Arnotts’ Jatz managed two stars,” Cartwright said.
However, a Mondelez International spokesperson pointed to problems with Choice's review.
“One of the concerns we have with the health star rating is that consumers may think they’re comparing like for like products, when they are in fact not. The very example Choice has presented to us is a salt- and sugar-free variant of Peanut Butter, and should for integrity sake be compared against the no added sugar or salt Kraft Peanut Butter, which our version of the latest algorithm shows as four stars. It appears this has not been done,” the spokesperson told Food & Drink Business.
In a media release, Choice wrote that it had decided to take a closer look at Mondelez after it attempted to discredit the Health Star Rating Scheme, claiming the scheme was "‘ill-founded, unscientific and confusing”.
“Choice questions whether the real reason Mondelez doesn’t like the system is that it would show consumers that some of their products are less healthy than the alternatives?” the organisation wrote.
Mondelez, however, notes that the health star rating still shows that Philadelphia Cheese Cream is healthier than an apple, and it also says the 100 gram serving size used in the five star system adds another level of complexity, as in the case of Vegemite.
“We believe that more work needs to be done to ensure consumers understand the nutritional value of the food they’re eating.
“At a time when food and agriculture production offer Australia a platform for sustained economy engagement with Asia, we don’t need further confusion in labelling, nor do we need a star system that will not be accepted in Asian export markets,” Mondelez said.
“Consumers should also be mindful that the algorithm which determines the number of stars on a product has changed numerous times and is expected to change again, so the results of this Choice test should be used with caution.”
Choice, meanwhile, has called on the food industry to get behind the system: “Choice knows there are companies out there that want to roll out the Health Star Rating Scheme and it’s time for the food industry to get behind this system.”
Mondelez says Choice has not compared apples with apples in its peanut butter health stars comparison.
