A new report released by Deakin University has ranked the worst food and drink products available in Australia and revealed some interesting results.
The report compared 19 major companies, ranking the nutrition policies of each product, finding that only half received a passing grade.
According to the scale scores ranged from three out of 100 for Parmalat and 71 out of 100 for Lion Dairy and Drinks.
Deakin’s Global Obesity Centre Associate Professor Gary Sacks said: “A key point, backed up by research, is that the current voluntary commitments to reduce marketing to kids are ineffectual, so companies need to tighten up their policies and actions in the area”.
“Unhealthy diets are creating a public health crisis in Australia. This has a high cost to the economy, including large impacts on the health care system and productivity,” Mr Sacks said.
There were many other companies that failed to meet the minimum standards and whom fell below the line including Kraft Heinz, McCain and Schweppes.
However companies including Nestle, Unilever and Sanitarium all met the requirements.
Within the report, there were three priorities set out for the companies in an attempt to make a positive contribution towards preventing and assisting in the decline of obesity.
One of the priorities was to continue to change the way foods are marketing and promoted to children, while all companies who were part of the research have implemented the Government ‘Health Star’ rating system there is still a long way to go.