zero_gravitas
@zero_gravitas@aussie.zone
- Comment on Health star rating to become mandatory on all packaged food in Australia 1 day ago:
If you had a unified scale of 1-100 instead, you would have the granularity to make comparisons between both similar and dissimilar products.
- Comment on Health star rating to become mandatory on all packaged food in Australia 1 day ago:
The Health Star Rating system is corrupted and unhelpful.
From theconversation.com/parents-find-health-star-rati…
The Health Star Rating’s own consumer research found 74% of consumers do not understand that the rating cannot be used to compare dissimilar products.
There’s no reason it shouldn’t be comparable across categories, either. I think originally it was designed so to be, and then the lobbyists got to it. People’s intake of each category isn’t some fixed ratio, and how are they supposed to get a signal to cut down on one category if they can’t compare products across categories?
Even if people are aware that products can only be compared within categories, do we expect everyone to know what those categories are and which one any particular product fits into? The HSR panel doesn’t contain any category information!
From theconversation.com/australias-food-labelling-sys…
So, is there an alternative?
Yes – warning labels.
Using simple statements or symbols, warning labels are designed to inform consumers if a food product is high in fat, sugar or salt. In future, they may also indicate whether a product is an ultra-processed food.
…
A global study published in late 2025 suggests warning labels are the most effective way to reduce the consumption of ultra-processed foods. This is compared to other ranking-style labelling schemes such as Health Star Ratings.
Seems like a pretty simple and reasonable approach to me. Also, it seems like it can be applied comparably across all categories of packaged food.
I can see people arguing that an incremental scale like the HSR allows for companies to compete on small differences (unlike a simple binary ‘high in sugar’ warning label) and that little differences would help over time. I’m pretty sceptical of that, though, and I think encouraging people to eat fewer chocolate biscuits is likely more important than slightly reducing the amount of sugar in the biscuits. (If anyone’s seen good research on the topic, let me know!)
It’s not like the ‘warning label’ approach stops people from making a comparison on the details anyway. If you see a ‘high in sugar’ label on something it might prompt you to check the nutrition panel to see just how much sugar is in that biscuit, and its competitors.
- Comment on Angus Taylor says party on track for Net Zero women by 2040 – The Chaser 3 days ago:
Great move.
- Comment on 'It was agony': Grandparents injured in Sydney anti-Herzog protest 6 days ago:
Wow, that’s nuts! No wonder the cops were acting as if they could get away with anything!
- Submitted 6 days ago to australia@aussie.zone | 5 comments
- Submitted 1 week ago to australia@aussie.zone | 4 comments
- Submitted 1 week ago to australia@aussie.zone | 2 comments
- Submitted 1 week ago to australia@aussie.zone | 0 comments
- Comment on Real estate agents in Australia using apps that leave millions of lease documents at risk, digital researcher says 2 weeks ago:
In these cases the data wasn’t for sale, it was publicly accessible.
- Real estate agents in Australia using apps that leave millions of lease documents at risk, digital researcher sayswww.theguardian.com ↗Submitted 2 weeks ago to australia@aussie.zone | 2 comments
- Telstra warns older iPhones may be unable to connect to Triple Zero [or any number, after recent update from Apple]www.abc.net.au ↗Submitted 2 weeks ago to australia@aussie.zone | 2 comments
- Comment on Science teachers from Queensland Open Brethren schools told to teach students about vegetarian dinosaurs on Noah’s Ark 3 weeks ago:
It’s all too silly to actually engage with it, but I think Answers in Genesis are talking about carnivorous dinosaurs potentially becoming ‘vegetarian’ for the duration of their stay on the ark: answersingenesis.org/…/dinosaurs-ark-how-possible…
- Science teachers from Queensland Open Brethren schools told to teach students about vegetarian dinosaurs on Noah’s Arkwww.theguardian.com ↗Submitted 3 weeks ago to australia@aussie.zone | 9 comments
- Submitted 3 weeks ago to australia@aussie.zone | 4 comments
- Comment on Ebike ‘swarms’ descend on roads and parks across Australia as meet-ups gather pace 3 weeks ago:
Ah, yeah, that’ll do it!
- Comment on Ebike ‘swarms’ descend on roads and parks across Australia as meet-ups gather pace 3 weeks ago:
These are different; they require pedalling and are top speed limited to 25km/hr.
That may be the law, but I see e-bikes daily that have been modified to remove those restrictions. In the video in the linked article I can see maybe one person pedal.
I mean they could just get an actual motor bike at 16 anyway
They have to pass a written test on the road rules, and yeah, they have to actually be 16. The motorbike also has to have registration plates and they can be penalised or lose their licence.
- Comment on Ebike ‘swarms’ descend on roads and parks across Australia as meet-ups gather pace 3 weeks ago:
Bikes paths? Maybe we can use this to get the boomers on board with spending money on bike infrastructure!
- Comment on Ebike ‘swarms’ descend on roads and parks across Australia as meet-ups gather pace 3 weeks ago:
Yeah, of all the e-bike incidents for people to be concerned about, this one gets traction? I guess it’s it’s just this one is visually interesting, and for some people is emblematic of the disregard that actually is dangerous in other situations?
- Comment on Ebike ‘swarms’ descend on roads and parks across Australia as meet-ups gather pace 3 weeks ago:
Hey, what if we gave every teenager a motorbike, and didn’t make them do any kind of driving test? That’s probably a good idea, right?
- Aurora australis set to light up Australian sky as agencies monitor ‘severe’ solar stormwww.theguardian.com ↗Submitted 3 weeks ago to australia@aussie.zone | 3 comments
- Comment on Gilmour Space receives funding boost for homegrown rockets 3 weeks ago:
Flamin’ Galah
- This TikTok star sharing Australian animal stories doesn’t exist – it’s AI Blakfacetheconversation.com ↗Submitted 4 weeks ago to australia@aussie.zone | 2 comments
- Rally against anti-protest laws and state visit by Israeli president - Today, 6pm, Sydney Town Hallaussie.zone ↗Submitted 4 weeks ago to australia@aussie.zone | 0 comments
- Emergency warning for Great Ocean Road as record-breaking downpour sweeps cars to seawww.abc.net.au ↗Submitted 4 weeks ago to australia@aussie.zone | 1 comment
- Submitted 5 weeks ago to australia@aussie.zone | 0 comments
- Submitted 5 weeks ago to australia@aussie.zone | 1 comment
- Submitted 5 weeks ago to australia@aussie.zone | 0 comments
- Submitted 5 weeks ago to meta@aussie.zone | 2 comments
- Submitted 1 month ago to australia@aussie.zone | 7 comments
- Submitted 1 month ago to australia@aussie.zone | 24 comments
