Consumers want more labeling requirements for sweeteners, research shows

July 2, 2020

“As consumers have turned away from sugar, more manufacturers have sought out alternative sweeteners that provide the flavoring to their products, but eschew the sugar label.

The desire to make this switch was recently accelerated with the FDA’s revamped Nutrition Facts label, which explicitly notes the number of grams of sugar in a product. It then breaks out how much of that sugar has been added as an additional sweetener.

Since many alternative sweeteners don’t fit the definition of sugars, their presence was left off the label even though their chemical names are still included on the ingredient list. According to the report from the Sugar Association, the number of products that contain at least one non-nutritive sweetener has tripled in the last four years.

However, if consumers are unfamiliar with names like erythritol, rebaudioside A or maltitol, it can be difficult to discern whether a product is sweetened with an alternative, and if so, which one is being used. This lack of transparency is something the Sugar Association report found consumers would like to clear up. Data show that 58% of those surveyed would prefer to have ingredients clearly labeled with simple equivalents next to chemical names. And of the 1,002 people surveyed, they all stated it was “extremely important” or “pretty important” to know how their food was sweetened.”

Read the full article at: https://www.fooddive.com/news/consumers-want-more-labeling-requirements-for-sweeteners-research-shows/580780/