Tick Facts
Tick foods and a balanced diet
Random Testing of Tick Products
Thank you to NZ King Salmon, NZ Pork Industry Board, Sealord, Essentially Food, NZ Beef & Lamb and Allyson Gofton for permission to reproduce images.
Healthier choice in food type
The Tick Programme has been improving the foods New Zealanders eat for ten years. The Tick is a public health programme whose goal is to improve the New Zealand food supply, by encouraging manufacturers to formulate healthier foods and by signposting healthier choices for shoppers in more than 50 types of food.
Tick products are everywhere
There are around 1000 products with the Tick, from more than 60 food manufacturers. You can find Tick products on supermarket shelves, from fresh fruit and vegetables that all qualify for the Tick, to staple foods like dairy, meat and bread, to a few occasional foods like ice cream and cereal bars.
Tick nutrition standards
The Heart Foundation uses a panel of nutrition experts who research, approve and set the highest achievable nutrition standards. These standards are specific to each food type. In general, the standards reduce 'bad' fats (saturated and trans), salt and kilojoules, and increase positive nutrients like fibre and calcium. Read more about Tick and nutrition.
Tick foods and a balanced diet
To make a real difference to the health of New Zealanders, the Tick is also on some occasional foods, so a healthier choice is available in those types of food. Eating a piece of fruit will always be the healthiest choice, but if you are going to eat an occasional food, like ice cream or a pie, look for one with the Tick and remember that because it has the Tick it doesn’t mean that you should eat it every day. Occasional foods make up only a small proportion of the Tick programme and the Heart Foundation recommends you limit them in your diet.
To help you include Tick products as part of a balanced and varied diet the Tick Shopping List is separated into everyday and occasional foods. We recommend you mostly eat Tick everyday foods. Tick occasional foods should be limited in your diet.
Click here for a list of Tick occasional foods that should be limited in your diet.
Improving the food supply
The Tick Programme is responsible for some big improvements to the foods New Zealanders eat by removing many tonnes of fat, salt and sugar from the food supply. For example, over a one year period the Tick removed a small mountain of salt (33 tonnes) from some common foods. This was achieved by influencing food manufacturers to reformulate products to meet the Heart Foundation standards in the breakfast cereal, bread and margarine categories. Products with a Tick in these types of food are now significantly healthier than similar products with a higher salt content.
The Tick must be earned
Food companies work hard to earn the Tick and they often need to reformulate existing products or develop new products to meet the standards for the food category. Each product that applies for the Tick is independently tested to prove it meets the standard and random testing is regularly carried out by the Heart Foundation to make sure Tick products continue to comply with the standards, The Heart Foundation is currently reviewing all its nutrition standards and introducing tougher new ones to make Tick products even healthier.
Tick is not-for-profit
The Heart Foundation Tick programme is self-funded and not-for-profit. All revenue is invested back into the programme. Food manufacturers pay a licence fee to the Heart Foundation based on sales of their Tick products. The fees are the minimum we can charge to cover costs for the administration, management and marketing of the Tick programme. The licence fees also pay for random testing of Tick approved products, nutrition research, and ongoing development of the Tick nutrition standards, so that Tick foods are constantly improving.
Random Testing of Tick Products
Food companies work hard to earn the Tick and they often need to reformulate existing products or develop new products to meet the standards for the food category. Each product that applies for the Tick is independently tested to prove it meets the standard and random testing is regularly carried out by the Heart Foundation to make sure Tick products continue to comply with the standards, The Heart Foundation is currently reviewing all its nutrition standards and introducing tougher new ones to make Tick products even healthier.
HEALTHIER CHOICES FOR HEALTHIER NEW ZEALANDERS
