Application of discretionary foods flag

The ADG recommends that Australians limit consumption of 'discretionary' foods. According to the AGHE, discretionary food and drink choices include sweet biscuits, cakes, desserts and pastries; processed meats and fattier/salty sausages; ice cream and other ice confections; confectionary; savoury pastries and pies; some sauces and dressings; jams & marmalades; commercial burgers with a high fat and/or salt content; commercially fried foods; potato chips, crisps and other fatty and/or salty snack foods including some savoury biscuits; palm oil, coconut cream & milk, cream, ghee, butter and dairy-blend spreads which are high in saturated fats; sugar-sweetened soft drinks, fruit drinks and cordials, sports and energy drinks and alcoholic drinks.

All NNPAS foods have previously been classified as discretionary or non-discretionary. This same classification flag can be used in the data analysis stage to determine the total number of serves of ADG groups consumed from non-discretionary foods only and from all foods (except foods not classified). The classification system structure and mapping of NNPAS foods to the classification have been developed in a way to allow flexibility for ADG database users to apply the discretionary food flag within an analysis as required.

A food that is flagged as discretionary may be a 'No classification' food or may be a 'Recipe food'. For example, 'cream' is a NNPAS food flagged as discretionary and is a single ingredient food that cannot be directly classified to an ADG food group so it is also a 'No classification' food.

In contrast, 'Hamburger, white roll, 2 beef patties, with bacon, cheese, lettuce, onion, pickles, tomato, mayonnaise & sauce, fast food chain' is a NNPAS food flagged as discretionary due to saturated fat content being greater than 5 g/100g and is classified as a 'Recipe food' as it is a mixed food comprising of a number of ADG food groups:

•  the 'white roll' is classified into the 'Grain (cereal) foods' group
• the 'tomato, lettuce, onion and pickles' into the 'Vegetables and legumes/beans' group
• the 'cheese' into the 'Milk, yoghurt, cheese and/or alternatives group'.
• the 'beef patties' and 'bacon' are mapped within the 'Red meat, non-lean (³10% fat)' classification', which is not an ADG food group
• the 'mayonnaise' is a 'No classification' food, and therefore does not have a recipe so will not be included in the analysis regardless of whether it is flagged as discretionary or not.

Using the hamburger example above, Table 1 demonstrates how ingredients in a mixed food get included in the consumption of ADG food groups based on the analysis of consumption of ADG foods with and without discretionary foods. In the Table, the above described hamburger is compared to a similar non-discretionary burger. The foods and ingredients captured in the analysis when the discretionary foods are included, and not included, are also outlined below and illustrated in Figure 4.

Analysis with both discretionary and non-discretionary foods - all foods which are 'Classified Foods' or 'Recipe Foods' will be included in the estimates of consumption of ADG food groups regardless of whether they have been flagged as discretionary. Foods mapped as 'No classification' will be excluded (including where they are an ingredient in a mixed food).

Analysis with non-discretionary foods only - all foods flagged as discretionary (and hence all the ingredients from a mixed food even where they are non-discretionary in their own right) will be excluded from the estimates of consumption of ADG food groups. Foods assigned as 'No classification' are also excluded (including where they are an ingredient in a recipe food).

Table 1: How ingredients in a mixed food get included in the consumption of ADG food groups based on the analysis with and without discretionary foods.

*The distinguishing difference between discretionary and non-discretionary for this mixed food was the high saturated fat and/or salt content in the commercial fast food chain burgers due to 2 x beef patties (>10% fat), and/or bacon and/or cheese.