Maple syrup and honey won’t need to note the amount of added sugars on their packaging under new guidance issued by the Food and Drug Administration.
Those products, and other single-ingredient sugars and syrups, will still have to include the percent Daily Value for added sugars “to ensure that consumers have information about how a serving of these products contributes to their total diet,” FDA said. Daily Values are the amounts in grams, milligrams, or micrograms recommended for certain nutrients, or recommended not to exceed for certain other nutrients, for Americans 4 years of age and older.
For certain dried cranberry products and cranberry beverage products, FDA says labels “must still declare added sugars in grams and declare the percent Daily Value for added sugars.” But FDA said it will use “enforcement discretion” for these products, allowing a statement outside the Nutrition Facts label explaining that sugars are added to improve the palatability of naturally tart cranberries.
Courtney Gaine, president and CEO of The Sugar Association, which refers to itself as the "scientific voice of the sugar industry," said she was generally pleased with the guidance. “We are certainly pleased FDA updated this guidance to reflect that there is no sugar added to real sugar and that the inclusion of an added sugars line for sugar would have misled consumers.
“We are certainly pleased FDA updated this guidance to reflect that there is no sugar added to real sugar and that the inclusion of an added sugars line for sugar would have misled consumers.”
However, Gaine added, "We are concerned that the percent daily value declaration for single-ingredient sweeteners may be confusing and should have been consumer-tested before finalizing this guidance. We have no idea if this information serves as a constructive tool that enables people to follow the Dietary Guidelines and is not information that is misleading."
For more news, go to www.Agri-Pulse.com.
