More than half of cheeses receive a rating below three stars under the Health Star Rating, and the cheese category should be reviewed before the system becomes mandatory, says Laura Anderson, nutrition manager at the Dairy Companies Association of New Zealand (DCANZ).

She says cheese is recognised as a core food and delivers protein, calcium and B12.

“We shouldn’t really be looking at just individual nutrients and penalising individual nutrients,” she says.

CountryWide CONNECT with Andy Thompson & Sarah Perriam-Lampp is our daily rural show livestreamed from 11am-1pm. Visit country-wide.co.nz on how to watch/listen or download the CountryWide CONNECT mobile app, available on Apple iOS and Android.

In the interview Laura says, “more than 50% of cheeses have a rating of 3 stars.” The correct statement is, “more than 50% of cheese have a rating below 3 stars.”