Healthier Options

We work with our partner, Spoon Guru, to determine the products that are similar to and healthier than the product you’re viewing.

Healthier Options products are considered similar based on factors that include:

• Product information (such as name, description, category and ingredients)

• Price

• Weight or pack size

Healthier Options products are considered healthier based on:

• The product’s Health Star Rating, if this is shown on the packaging; or

• The product’s health rating calculated by us, if a Health Star Rating isn’t shown on the product packaging.

• We use the nutrition information and ingredients list on the packaging to calculate the product’s health rating using the Government's Health Star Rating calculator. These calculations take into account the following product nutrition information:

• Energy (kJ)

• Sodium (mg)

• Saturated fat (g)

• Total sugar (g)

• Fibre (g)

• Protein (g)

• Percentage of fruit, vegetables, nuts and legumes (%)

The Healthier Options products displayed will have a Health Star Rating or calculated health rating that's at least ½ a star higher than the product you're viewing.

The Federal Government’s Health Star Rating is a voluntary front-of-pack nutrition labelling system for packaged food and drinks. The star rating ranges from ½ to 5 stars and rates the nutritional profile of the product — the more stars, the healthier the product choice.

Health Star Ratings are calculated based on a product's energy (kilojoules), as well as positive nutrients and ingredients (protein, fibre, fruit, vegetable, nut and legume content) and ‘risk’ nutrients (sodium, saturated fat and sugar). Learn more about how Health Star Ratings are calculated here.

The Healthier Options products displayed will have a Health Star Rating or calculated health rating (calculated using the Government's Health Star Rating calculator) that's at least ½ a star higher than the product you're viewing.

For more information on product suggestions, please see our response to How are products selected for Healthier Options?

The Federal Government recently completed a 5-year review of the Health Star Rating system and released a revised Health Star Rating calculator at the end of 2020. Using this revised calculator, manufacturers have a 2-year transition period (up to 14 November 2022) to update the Health Star Rating shown on their products’ packaging.

If a product has a Health Star Rating on its packaging, we will use this to compare the product against similar products and determine if it’s a Healthier Option. During the transition period, some products will still display a Health Star Rating that’s calculated using the previous calculator. Where there is no Health Star Rating on the packaging, we’ve calculated the product’s health rating from the information provided on the packaging using the Government’s revised Health Star Rating calculator.

We encourage customers to review information on product packaging or check with the manufacturer to ensure the product is right for you as:

• The use of Health Star Ratings shown on packaging that have been calculated using the previous Health Star Rating calculator may impact the Healthier Options products shown, particularly in categories that score differently under the revised calculator, including dairy foods, non-dairy beverages (e.g. juice) and foods that require preparation with other ingredients; and

• We cannot always ensure the accuracy of product information provided to us, and ingredients may change from time to time.

It’s important to note that dietary filters are not applied to Healthier Options at this time. Our Healthier Options tool is all about saving you time and identifying healthier product alternatives as you shop. The tool doesn’t take into account your individual circumstances, health requirements or specific dietary requirements. It shouldn’t be used as an alternative to personalised dietary or medical advice. We recommend checking the product packaging or enquiring with the product manufacturer to ensure products are right for your individual needs.

No, Healthier Options does not give preference to nor have a bias in favour of or against specific brands, including Woolworths’ brands or specific suppliers. Product selections are based on the information outlined in our response to How are products selected for Healthier Options?

Healthier Options won’t display where we don’t have a product’s Health Star Rating nor sufficient product data to calculate a product’s health rating using the Government’s Health Star Rating calculator.

Also, certain product categories won’t have Healthier Options provided. These categories include:

• Fruit and vegetables, including fresh and frozen, with no added sugar, fat or salt

• Foods that aren’t required to display nutrition information, such as vinegar, tea bags, herbs and spices

• Foods that are not permitted to display a Health Star Rating, including alcoholic beverages and certain special-purpose foods, such as infant formula, foods for infants and formulated supplementary sports foods

• Products where there are simply no similar products that have a Health Star Rating or calculated health rating that’s at least ½ a star higher than the product you’re viewing