Health Star Ratings calculated for you

Note: Changes to the HSR regulations in November 2020 are not included in FoodWorks 10. See here for more information.

The Health Star Rating (HSR) is a government-led initiative that scores the nutritional value of packaged foods. It is a voluntary scheme, designed to help consumers compare foods so they can make healthier choices when shopping within a category. Health Star Ratings are from 1/2 star to 5 stars.

With FoodWorks 10 Nutrition Labelling, HSRs can be calculated for your recipes from their ingredients. Then for each recipe, you can choose one of the prescribed HSR graphics to include on your label.

This article is a quick overview of the HSR features in FoodWorks, which are designed to make calculating HSRs simple and transparent.

Preparation

To get HSR working, you need to categorise your recipes according to the HSR system:

• Category 1 Beverages other than dairy beverages
• Category 1D Dairy beverages
• Category 2 All foods other than those included in Category 1, 1D, 2D, 3 or 3D
• Category 2D Dairy foods other than those included in Category 1D or 3D
• Category 3 Oils and spreads (butter/margarine)
• Category 3D Cheese and processed cheese (with calcium content >320 mg/100 g)

You enter the category on the General tab of the recipe:

For each raw material in your database, you also need to enter the FVNL (fruit, vegetable, nut, legume) percentage and the cFV (concentrated fruit and vegetable) percentage so that FoodWorks can calculate the V points.

FoodWorks will take care of the Fibre (F) and Protein (P) points (as long as fibre data is available), and then do the HSR calculations for you.

You can enter the FVNL/cFV percentage for individual raw materials in the Override column on the Nutrients & Components tab:

Or, if you want too enter them for all your raw materials quickly, you can use the FVNL Editor:

Results

Then for your recipe, you can see the calculated HSR in the Analysis Pane:

If you want to check the calculation you can view its breakdown in the HSR Explorer, which shows you the Base Line points, the Modifying Points, and the cut offs:

On your labels

Of course you can view the HSR on your labels in the Label Window:

On your labels you can choose from these styles of HSR system graphics:

• No HSR
• HSR only
• HSR + Energy
• HSR + Energy + 3 nutrients
• Energy only

The HSR system graphics are also provided so that you can work in with your label-printing software, such as BarTender®.

Help for using Health Star Ratings in FoodWorks

You can find information on how to generate HSRs with FoodWorks on our support site:

• Getting started with Health Star Ratings in FoodWorks 10

More information on Health Star Ratings

• Guide for Industry to the Health Star Rating Calculator (March 2018) – how HSRs are calculated
• Health Star Rating system Style Guide (December 2017) – guidance for the application of the Health Star Rating system on food packages