According to my twitter feed I seem to be the only person who thinks the recent announcement* should be celebrated. As for the rest of you- all I hear is cynicism and complaining.

The Health Star Rating (HSR) system uses a star rating scale, like the energy stars on appliances, to help shoppers make informed and healthier food choices. Given how much people struggle to interpret food labels surely this is a step in the right direction?

Yeah, I hear you critics. Your points have merit- I’d just like to put them in perspective.

Firstly, yes there are anomalies. There always will be- no labelling system is perfect. Nope, not the Heart Foundation’s Tick nor the UK’s traffic lights. As a dietitian who has worked in food industry I have trialed a variety of nutrition-scoring systems and whenever you think you’ve found one that works you’ll stumble across another curve-ball product that damages the integrity of the system.

Secondly, food industry was involved in the advisory group. The calibre of this group, and the associated collaboration around this table is actually what I think should be celebrated the most. The majority of the group was made up of nutrition experts working in public health, academia and government. Five of the 11 members were from ‘food industry’.  I should hope that industry was involved. After all, they are the ones who work day in day out with product development, regulation and labelling. Their involvement gives me faith that the system is actually practical for companies to implement.

Thirdly, the system is currently voluntary. If you think all (if any) food companies are rolling in money you are delusional. Labeling changes are expensive and are done as infrequently as possible. Given that food companies are the ones footing the bill, not government; it is fair that companies should choose when and how they roll out the labelling changes.  Again, for those up in arms about the industry involvement in the advisory group, the fact that some of our biggest food companies are supportive of the system in a great start. Nestlé and Sanitarium have already publically pledged their support. Give them the chance to step up to the plate.

Don’t get me wrong- I have apprehensions about how it is all going to work, and what effect it will actually have on health outcomes.  But can we all just take a moment to acknowledge that with a little collaboration and faith we may have taken an extremely positive step.

* On 27 June 2014 the Minister for Food Safety, Nikki Kaye, announced that the Government will be joining with Australia’s (voluntary) Front of Pack Nutrition Labelling system. More information available here.

Image courtesy of vegetables.co.nz

You’d have to be living under a rock if you haven’t heard the term “clean eating” being bandied around by diet advocates and eager adopters. But what does it mean?

There is no official definition.

Depending on your personal beliefs and food philosophies it can mean anything from avoiding meat, dairy, or grains to eating a 100% organic diet. The only universally consistent principle seems to be the avoidance of highly refined or processed foods.

The term is often used in conjunction with other diet buzzwords- “paleo”, “primal”, “caveman” and “wholefood” diets.  This complicates the issue even further, and illustrates nicely that even the die-hard followers of these diet movements cannot clearly explain the differences between the various terms.

And now, like with every other diet trend, the food marketers are jumping on board. Lion Dairy and Drinks have released a new range of lower sugar soft drinks, called Hopt Soda, which has the quite meaningless tagline “Drink Clean.” I’ll hand it to them- it’s probably the most on-trend marketing puffery I’ve seen this year. It’s an implied health claim without actually being a health claim. If anyone challenged them their legal team could simply argue it means the product is hygienically prepared.

It probably sounds like I dislike the term. But that’s not entirely true. If anything I’m jealous that the credible nutrition experts, such as registered dietitians and nutritionists, didn’t come up with it first.

As I dietitian myself, I think you’d be hard pressed to find a dietitian who doesn’t promote an eating pattern that focusses on natural whole foods such as fruit and vegetables, and recommends minimising highly processed foods.

Effectively, this version of “clean eating” is what dietitians have been recommending for decades. We just haven’t had the marketing panache to give our dietary messages a buzzword that can be adopted with a cult-like following.

Maybe we can come up with the next one?