Use of nutrition content and health claims on ready meals in Australia

AIMS: Nutrition content claims and health claims are commonly displayed on food packaging and are known to influence consumer preferences and purchasing of labelled foods. This study aimed to assess the prevalence of content and health claims found on ready meals in the Australian food supply and examine their alignment with the Nutrient Profiling Scoring Criterion and Standard 1.2.7 of the Food Standards Code. METHODS: In a cross-sectional analysis, ready meal products were identified from the Australian FoodSwitch 2023 database to record serving size, nutrition information, Health Star Rating and claims for each product. The Nutrient Profiling Score was calculated for each product and claim compliance was assessed against Standard 1.2.7. Descriptive statistics were conducted to explore the data for prevalence of content and health claims, and alignment with the relevant standard. RESULTS: A total of n = 777 ready meals were identified in the database. Eighty-eight percent of products met threshold criteria for eligibility to carry a health claim. In total, 2051 claims were identified, with nutrition content claims the most common (93% of all claims). In total, 92% of nutrition content claims and 39% of general-level health claims complied with all provisions of Standard 1.2.7. CONCLUSIONS: This study highlights the widespread use of claims, particularly nutrition content claims, on ready meal products sold in Australia. Strengthened guidelines and stricter enforcement of claim compliance are essential to prevent misleading claims in the Australian food supply.