The consumer organisation Choice has accused the food industry of undermining the five star front-of-pack food labelling system that it agreed to it earlier this year.
The five star scheme gives an overall indication of a food’s nutritional quality using a rating of up to five stars on the front of food products.
“We spent two years negotiating this new system with the food industry, represented by the Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC),” Choice CEO, Alan Kirkland said in a statement.
“The new system incorporates a number of concessions sought by the AFGC but now it has turned around and launched a fierce campaign against the very system it helped to develop.”
The AFGC, however, says it is still involved in committees tasked with creating an algorithm that will be used to assign stars to products.
The AFGC told Food & Drink Business that Choice's claims were unsubstantiated. "The AFGC is committed to establishing a front of pack system that's meaningful to consumers," an AFGC spokesperson said.
Kirkland, however, said that food manufacturers are worried that the scheme would "show shoppers the truth about some of their best selling products".
“The Board of the AFGC includes some of the world’s biggest food companies - like Kellogg, Simplot and Campbell Arnotts. We should not allow companies such as these to dictate our domestic food policy,” he said.
According to Choice, front of pack negotiations with the AFGC were premised on the removal of the industry-run Daily Intake Guide which it said was flawed. However, the AFGC is now fighting to make it part of the new labelling system, the consumer organisation says.
The AFGC has voiced concerns over the five star scheme in the past. In January, the AFGC warned the Federal Government that serious flaws remained and needed to be resolved.
AFGC CEO, Gary Dawson said issues to be resolved included how the star system is calculated to avoid anomalous ratings, and he said substantial funding would be needed to educate consumers on how to use the labelling.
In June, the Australian Dairy Industry Council (ADIC) said products like milk and cheese could be seen as an unhealthy option under the new star rating system.
“An effective FoPL system will need to resolve issues such as how the star system is calculated to avoid anomalous ratings that will undermine the credibility of the scheme and potentially mislead consumers,” AFGC CEO Gary Dawson said at the time.
