Assistant Minister for Health Fiona Nash has launched a system for rating the healthiness of foods 10 months after shutting down a website to promote the scheme.

In February, Senator Nash demanded a website for the Health Star Rating system be taken down a day after it was published. The controversy sparked claims of conflict interest that ended with the resignation of Senator Nash's then chief of staff, Alastair Furnival after Fairfax Media revealed he was the co-owner of a lobbying firm which had represented junk food clients.

Choice: Assistant Health Minister Fiona Nash has been praised for steering the website through to completion despite a 'rocky' process that lasted more than two years. Credit:Peter Rae

On Saturday, health groups who had been critical of Senator Nash's earlier decision to pull the website appeared beside her outside a Canberra shopping centre to celebrate its rebirth.

Senator Nash said the rating system, the product of more than two years of collaboration between federal, state and territory governments, health and consumer groups and the food industry, would make it easier for shoppers to make informed choices about healthier food options.