The federal government has been accused of bowing to the junk food industry after a new food rating system website was pulled down, allegedly at the behest of a senior minister.

The long-awaited ''health star rating'' website, for food manufacturers to label their products with easy-to-understand nutritional information, was launched about midday on Wednesday, only to be pulled by 8pm that night.

A screen grab of the "health star rating" website before it was discontinued.

Fairfax Media has been given evidence that Assistant Health Minister Fiona Nash, and her chief of staff, Alastair Furnival, personally intervened to have the site pulled down - despite it being approved through a Council of Australian Governments ministerial council.

After inquiries directed to Ms Nash on Thursday, a Health Department spokeswoman said the site was only a ''draft'' made live in ''an inadvertent error'' - a statement that has been rejected by two sitting state health ministers as well as others familiar with the project.