Malaysia plans A-to-D food grades to nudge manufacturers — and consumers — towards healthier choices

Malaysia may roll out a new food labelling system assigning nutrition grades of A to D to packaged foods and drinks by year-end, according to Dr Yap Wei Aun, a senior official at the Health Ministry. The initiative falls under the ministry's preventive health strategies, aiming to steer consumers towards healthier food choices without solely relying on individual determination.

Dr Yap argued that population-level health improvements would be more effective if the industry reformulated products to meet healthier standards rather than solely on consumer behaviour. The front-of-pack labelling system would feature an A grade for the healthiest items and a D grade for the least healthy. Dr Yap explained that the approach would fundamentally shift the health landscape by prompting industries to reformulate their products to meet A and B criteria, ultimately reducing reliance on public education.

The Health Ministry is collaborating with Singapore on the implementation, with the goal of gazetting the measure by the end of the year. Dr Yap highlighted that the policy could complement other public health measures, such as restricting less healthy product availability or changing product presentation in retail spaces. Singapore already employs a similar system, known as Nutri-Grade, which prohibits advertising for drinks with a D grade containing over 10g of sugar per 100ml.

In a parliamentary reply in October 2025, Malaysian Health Minister Datuk Seri Dzulkefly Ahmad mentioned the country's voluntary Healthier Choice Logo (HCL) system, which assesses the nutritional content of 1,002 food and beverage products.