Understanding Nutritional Labelling

The inside story on what's in your food

Ingredients lists, nutrition labels, Health Star Ratings – when it comes to getting nutrition information from food labels, there’s a lot to figure out! We'll help you understand the different tools and how they can help you make choices to suit the needs of you and your family.

Eating better is easier with Health Star Ratings

The Health Star Ratings (HSR) system is a simple way to make healthier food choices. The government, industry, public health and consumer groups created the HSR to compare the nutrition value of foods in the same category, and score them from ½ a star to 5 stars. The higher the number of stars, the healthier the food.

So how does the HSR system work?

Let’s say you’re looking for a lunchbox snack. Just compare two products in the same category, like muesli bars. If one has just 1½ stars and the other has 4 stars, the 4 stars one is the healthier option. And Uncle Tobys has Australia’s largest range of 4 star muesli bars.

If you’re choosing a breakfast cereal, compare the number of stars on the labels of products within the breakfast aisle. All Uncle Tobys cereals have an HSR of 4 stars or more.

Remember, the HSR system works best when comparing products within the same category – a 4-star yoghurt isn’t the same as a 4-star cereal.

How products earn their stars

Each product’s HSR is determined by calculating its food components – energy, saturated fat, sugars, sodium (salt), protein and dietary fibre, and the vegetable, fruit, nut and legume content of the food. The amounts of these nutrients determine the number of stars for the product.

We’re proud to have Australia’s largest range of breakfast cereals and muesli bars with an HSR of 4 stars or more.

Get to know the nutrition information panel

The Nutrition Information Panel is found on all packaged foods sold in Australia. It helps you to understand what nutrients are in the product, so you can choose the foods that’s best for your needs.

For example, the Nutrition Information Panel can help you select snacks or breakfast cereals with less saturated fat, sodium (salt), total sugars and kilojoules, and more fibre per serve. You can also use it to check the recommended serving size.

Find out where your food comes from

The Australian government recently introduced Country of Origin labelling to make it clearer where some of the foods you buy are grown, produced, made or packed. Packaged foods like breakfast cereals and muesli bars will have to carry a statement showing:
• whether the food was made or packaged in Australia, and how much of it contains Australian ingredients
• if not Australia, what country the food was made in.

How aussie are Uncle Tobys cereals and snacks?

We’re proud of the fact that 99% of the oats and wheat in our products are grown right here in Australia, and most of the Uncle Tobys range have at least 70% Australian ingredients. All but one of our products are made in Australia (our Shredded Wheat cereal is made in the UK).