Do I need a Health Star Rating?
Last updated
The Health Star Rating is a front-of-pack rating of up to five stars. It is a government scheme, not part of the Food Standards Code. This guide explains how the rating is worked out and how the graphic may be shown. The sources are the Health Star Rating System Implementation Guide v9.1 ("the Guide") and the official HSR Calculator 4.2.
Labelwise applies these rules and draws the graphic. This guide, like Labelwise, isn't advice: you choose your food's category, and you are responsible for the rating on your pack.
Is it compulsory?
No. Today the Health Star Rating is voluntary (Guide Section 1). Proposal P1067, to make it mandatory, is in its second consultation, from 28 October to 23 December 2026.
If you do put a rating on your pack, it must be worked out and shown the way the Guide says.
How the rating is worked out
1. Pick the category
Every food goes in one of six categories, and you choose it:
| Category | For |
|---|---|
| 1 | Non-dairy drinks (rated per 100 mL) |
| 1D | Dairy drinks |
| 2 | Other foods |
| 2D | Dairy foods |
| 3 | Oils and spreads |
| 3D | Cheese with more than 320 mg calcium per 100 g |
2. Start from the nutrition panel
The rating uses the per-100 g (or per-100 mL) values your nutrition panel declares, so it matches what the official calculator gives for the panel on your pack. They are rounded first, as the calculator does: energy and sodium to whole numbers, grams to 0.1 g.
3. Add up the points
- Baseline points come from energy, saturated fat, total sugars and sodium (Guide Tables 1–3). More of each means more points, and more points means fewer stars.
- V points come from the share of fruit, vegetables, nuts and legumes, "FVNL" (Table 4). The share is by ingoing weight, less any added water removed in processing. With a mix of fresh and dried, the dried (concentrated) fruit and vegetables count twice by weight, by the Guide's formula. Not everything that grows counts: peanut butter does, but cocoa, coconut milk and oils don't.
- P points come from protein, and F points from dietary fibre (Table 6). Protein counts only when the baseline points are below 13, or the V points are 5 or more. Drinks (categories 1 and 1D) get no fibre points.
The score is the baseline points less the V, P and F points. The category's column in Table 7 turns the score into stars. A calculated non-dairy drink (category 1) can get at most 4 stars.
Automatic ratings
Some food gets a set rating without the calculation (Guide 4.1): plain water 5 stars, unsweetened flavoured water 4.5 stars, and fresh or minimally processed fruit and vegetables 5 stars.
Where the Guide and the calculator differ
In a few places the official HSR Calculator works differently from the Guide's text. Labelwise follows the calculator, because it is the official tool businesses use. Our rules page lists each difference.
Drinks you dilute with water
A drink the directions say to mix with water, such as cordial, is rated as prepared (Guide v9.1). Preparing with anything other than water, such as milk, hasn't been allowed since the 2020 changes.
You enter the parts of water to one part of product, by volume: 4 for "1 part cordial to 4 parts water". Each per-100 mL value is divided by 1 + 4 = 5, since water has no nutrients. Only drink categories (1 and 1D) can be rated this way.
Your nutrition panel stays as sold (Standard 1.2.8). The directions on the pack must give the same dilution you rated.
The graphic
- Use the official artwork. The graphic is the Australian Government's own artwork, drawn unchanged and only scaled. Stylised versions aren't allowed (Guide 5.2).
- What it shows. All five stars are visible, with the rating's stars shaded, the rating as a number, and the words "Health Star Rating" (Guide 5.2, 5.3).
- The stars are the minimum. The stars must be part of every use of the system. The energy and nutrient icons beside them are optional (Guide 5.1, 6). Labelwise draws the stars on their own; if your pack has room for the icons, the official artwork file has them.
- Size and colour are yours. It must be legible and contrast with the background (Guide 5.2). Labelwise offers 12 to 60 mm, in black.
- It goes on the front of the pack (Guide 5.2).
What "provisional" means in Labelwise
The rating needs a fibre value for every ingredient. The FSANZ ingredient data in Labelwise has no fibre values, so until you enter fibre from your suppliers' specifications, the rating is provisional. Labelwise shows it as a minimum, such as "3.5 stars or more", names the ingredients missing fibre, and won't draw the graphic until you enter fibre: a rating on a pack must be right.
An ingredient you mark as used in a negligible amount, such as a pinch of citric acid, counts as no fibre, so it doesn't make the rating provisional.
Not covered
Infant foods, sports foods, alcoholic drinks and kava are out of scope for the Health Star Rating.
Make this label
Enter your recipe and choose the category, and Labelwise works out the rating from your nutrition panel and draws the official stars for your pack.