FDA issues final rule on ‘healthy’ claim, updates requirements

“The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released its final ruling on requirements for the “healthy” nutrient claim, more than two years after initially proposing an update…

Trade groups and associations quickly responded to the new definition, with various groups calling out the exclusion of certain foods like cereals and yogurts.

The Sugar Association called out some of the products that will be excluded with the updated definition but supports some added sugar limits, Courtney Gaine, The Sugar Association president and CEO, shared in a statement with FoodNavigator-USA.

“The Sugar Association supports the Dietary Guidelines recommendation to limit added sugars to 10% of total calories, but the new ‘healthy’ definition goes well beyond that recommendation and arbitrarily excludes many foods containing added sugars that are key providers of essential nutrients, such as fruit yogurt,” Gaine elaborated.

The Sugar Association called out “incentivizing further use of industrial additives like low- and no-calorie sweeteners in food, which have proliferated over the last several decades, going well beyond their well-known and easily identifiable role in beverages,” Gaine elaborated.

Sugar remains one of the most popular sweeteners compared to no- or low-caloric sweeteners, according to a recent International Food Information Council (IFIC) report. In the report, IFIC surveyed 1,000 consumers to rate their favorite sweeteners out of 10 (1 being the least likely to consume and 10 the most) with sucrose receiving an average score of 6.3, compared to monk fruit, aspartame, allulose and erythritol at 4.3, 3.9, 3.5 and 3.4, respectively.

“At some point, the government needs to acknowledge that we don’t have a good grasp on how pervasive these low- and no-calorie sweeteners have become in our food supply, unbeknown to most Americans. It is past time we bring some transparency to these additives like we have for added sugars,” Gaine said.”

Read the full article here: https://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/Article/2024/12/19/fda-updates-healthy-definition/