“The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Dec. 19 issued its final rule on updating what qualifies for the “healthy” nutrient content claim that manufacturers may use voluntarily on food packages.
The rule marked the first major change to the claim since the FDA introduced it in 1994. Changes included limits on added sugars, which were not mentioned in the 1994 rule, and limits on saturated fat based on food groups…
Dairy products are allowed 5% or less of the Daily Value of added sugars. Courtney Gaine, PhD, president and chief executive officer of The Sugar Association, took issue with the added sugars update.
“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,” she said. “With this rule, FDA is once again 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 and now showing up as unidentifiable chemical names buried on ingredient lists for foods, including in food for children.”
Read the full article here: https://www.dairyprocessing.com/articles/2963-fda-revises-outdated-healthy-claim-parameters
March 22, 2026
"The Feeding the Economy report affirms the vital role food and agriculture play in our nation’s economic resilience and food security. Commercial bakers have long been proud partners to American agriculture, sourcing 85 percent of their core ingredients from domestic farmers....Sponsoring organizations from the food and agriculture industries, who helped make the 2026 study possible, provided commentary on this year’s findings. The full list of sponsoring organizations includes: ...The Sugar Association"
March 10, 2026
"Courtney Gaine, president and CEO of the Sugar Association, a scientific body that supports the U.S. sugar industry, told the USDA Outlook Forum that the school meal standards taking effect next year might prohibit added sugars in kindergarten meals and could significantly restrict them in other grades. That change alone would cut sugar demand by over 130,000 short tons. The industry faces additional pressure from rising GLP-1 weight-loss drug usage, which jumped from 12% in May 2024 to 18% in November 2025, though Gaine cautioned it remains "premature to assess the impact."
March 3, 2026
"Gaine added, "There is no data to support all this." She said the focus on added sugar is often politically motivated, but food groups have not pushed back on the MAHA pressure. There is a lot of fear of retaliation, and for good reason they have not wanted to push back publicly," Gaine said. "I think it’s going to demand a coordinated, really coordinated, pushing back. Any effort up (until) now has been to go along to get along, and I don’t know if that’s going to work."
© 2026 The Sugar Association, Inc. All rights reserved.
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