About the Healthy Food Partnership
The voluntary Healthy Food Partnership brings together governments, the public health sector and the food industry to:
- encourage healthy eating among Australians
- promote appropriate portion sizes
- enable food manufacturers to provide healthier choices.
Why it is important
Research has found that Australians of all ages generally:
- don’t eat enough of the 5 food groups as recommended by the Australian Dietary Guidelines
- eat too much discretionary food (food we don’t need that’s high in energy and low in nutrients), like pastries, ice cream or chips
- eat too much sugar, salt and saturated fat.
Poor diet is:
- responsible for more than 7% of the total burden of disease in Australia
- one of the main risk factors for years of healthy life lost due to disease – second only to tobacco smoking.
Goals of the Healthy Food Partnership
By supporting healthy eating, the Healthy Food Partnership aims to:
- encourage Australians to eat healthier, in line with the Australian Dietary Guidelines
- improve the overall health of Australians
- reduce overweight and obesity
- reduce diet-related diseases, including chronic conditions
- lower the significant cost of health care to our economy.
Meeting these goals
We are working with the food industry to:
- educate Australians on what an appropriate portion size is
- encourage manufacturers to promote more appropriate serving sizes to increase healthy eating and reduce waste
- educate Australians on eating a balanced diet of the 5 food groups, in line with the Australian Dietary Guidelines
- develop a long-term education strategy that meets the individual needs of different population groups in Australia
- work with industry and key stakeholders to reduce sugar, sodium and saturated fat in processed and manufactured food and drinks under the Partnership Reformulation Program.
This work builds on the Health Star Rating system, which is already helping to improve the nutritional profiles of packaged food and drinks.
Who we work with
We work with public health experts and food industry representatives. Food companies are in a great position to help us improve the diet of Australians, as so much of our diet comes from processed and manufactured food.
The Healthy Food Partnership Executive Committee and various working groups are implementing the partnership's activities.
Related information
Healthy Food Partnership – Program logic
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