Obesity experts are requesting the Government to amp up the regulations around food manufacturing and the health star rating system.
The George Institute published a report in which researchers ranked the nutritional value of packaged food and beverages on sale across Australia.
Msn.com.au said the report found little progress had been made despite the efforts in recent years.
Gary Sacks, co-author of the study and associate professor at Deakin University’s Global Obesity Centre said urgent government action was required.
“We know that unhealthy diets are the biggest contributor to poor health in Australia, and at the moment Australians’ diets are dominated by packaged food,” Dr Sacks said.
“If we want to make a real difference to Australians’ health, we need to improve the healthiness of packaged foods.”
Obesity Policy Coalition executive manager Jane Martin said there needed to be stricter regulations.
“There’s no accountability at the moment, and that’s the problem,” Ms Martin said.
“For adults, 35 per cent of the energy they’re consuming every day is coming from highly processed foods, and for children, it’s even higher — 41 per cent.”
“This is an urgent and serious public health issue,” Ms Martin said.