Health Star Rating Explained — How NZ's Front-of-Pack Score Works

The Health Star Rating (HSR) is the official front-of-pack nutrition score used in New Zealand and Australia. It rates a product from 0.5 to 5.0 stars in half-star increments — the more stars, the healthier the choice within that food category. PriceHunter shows the HSR alongside its price so you can buy the healthiest version of what you actually want, at the cheapest retailer.

HSR is a voluntary system run by Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) — the same authority behind every nutrition label. The formula has been live since 2014 and is what supermarkets, the Heart Foundation, and the Ministry for Primary Industries all reference. PriceHunter computes it locally from the OpenFoodFacts nutrition data so you see the score even when the packaging doesn't carry the front-of-pack icon.

How the Health Star Rating is calculated

HSR is a weighted balance between things you want less of and things you want more of, per 100 grams (or 100 millilitres for drinks):

Baseline points — the "risk" nutrients

• Energy (kJ) — total kilojoules per 100 g/ml. 0–10 points.
• Saturated fat (g)— the "bad fat" that drives cholesterol. 0–10 points.
• Total sugars (g) — includes both natural and added sugars. 0–10 points.
• Sodium (mg) — salt content. 0–10 points.

Higher amounts of any of these add more baseline points. A maximum of 40 points is possible — the closer you get, the further the final score drops.

Modifier points — the "good" nutrients

• V points (fruit, vegetable, nut and legume content) — rewarded generously for whole-food ingredients. 0–8 points depending on category and composition.
• P points (protein)— 0–5 points. Gating rule: products with very high baseline scores (≥ 13) can't claim protein points unless they also score 5+ V points, so high-protein junk food doesn't game the system.
• F points (dietary fibre) — 0–5 points.

Final score and category-specific star mapping

final = baseline − V − P − F
stars = lookupCategoryStarTable(final)

HSR uses six product categories (1, 1D, 2, 2D, 3, 3D) with different baseline thresholds and star-mapping tables. A fried snack and a glass of milk land in different categories so the comparison is fair within food type, not across it. The lower the final score, the more stars you get.

How to read a Health Star Rating

• 5.0 ★ — the healthiest product in its category. Plain rolled oats, unsweetened yogurt, fresh produce.
• 4.0 – 4.5 ★ — a strong everyday choice. Reduced-sodium baked beans, wholegrain bread, lean meats.
• 3.0 – 3.5 ★ — a reasonable choice. Most ready-meals, breakfast cereals, dairy desserts.
• 2.0 – 2.5 ★ — eat occasionally. Many snack bars, sugary cereals, processed cheese.
• 0.5 – 1.5 ★ — treat-only foods. Soft drinks, lollies, savoury snacks with high salt or sat fat.

How PriceHunter uses HSR

Every grocery product PriceHunter tracks gets an HSR badge next to its price whenever OpenFoodFacts has enough nutrition data to score it honestly. The same badge appears in your pantry so you can see at a glance which of your staples are the healthier choices in their category. We also show the Nutri-Score grade (A–E) for products where OpenFoodFacts has already computed it — they don't always agree, and seeing both lets you cross-check.

Why some products show no Health Star Rating

PriceHunter only displays an HSR when we're confident in the score, which means skipping a few cases rather than guessing:

• Sparse nutrition data— if energy, saturated fat, sugars, or sodium is missing from the upstream OpenFoodFacts entry, we can't calculate the baseline. No badge is shown rather than a partial score.
• Dairy, oils, spreads and cheese— these use specialised HSR categories (1D, 2D, 3, 3D) with different baseline tables. They'll light up in a follow-up update; for now we skip rather than mis-rate.
• Non-food items— household cleaners, pet food, and personal care products don't get an HSR even when scanned.

HSR vs Nutri-Score — which should you trust?

Both are credible. HSR is the official NZ/AU scheme designed for our food supply. The Nutri-Score (A–E) is the European Commission's equivalent, computed by OpenFoodFacts and widely adopted in France, Belgium, Germany, Spain, and the Netherlands. They generally agree, but use slightly different category thresholds and modifier weights.

Practical rule: trust HSR for everyday NZ supermarket shopping (the formula was tuned for our food supply). Use Nutri-Score as a sanity check — when the two badges disagree by more than one tier, look at the ingredients list yourself.