Food Quality and Safety

September 3, 2020

“Fueled by revised dietary guidelines and new FDA labeling regulation, supermarkets are suddenly teeming with sugar substitutes in packaged foods. In response, the Sugar Association filed a citizen petition in June asking FDA to update labels of low- and no-calorie sweeteners on food packages to increase accuracy and transparency.

The petition makes four specific requests:

  1. Add the term “sweetener” in parentheses after the names of all non-nutritive sweeteners in the ingredient list.
  2. Indicate the type and quantity of non-nutritive sweeteners prominently on children’s products.
  3. Market labels as no/low/reduced sugar to include the disclosure, “sweetened with [name of sweetener(s)]” under such claims.
  4. Disclose on labels the potential gastrointestinal side effects from the consumption of sugar alcohols and some sugar substitutes in foods at the lowest observed effect levels.

The petition follows FDA’s first major change to food label regulation in 27 years. In January, FDA began requiring that manufacturers with $10 million or more of annual food sales list the amount and percent daily value for added sugars on nutrition and supplement facts labels. “Sugars” on the label has also been changed to “Total Sugars” to help consumers understand that “Added Sugars” is a subset of “Total Sugars.”

Read the full article at: https://www.foodqualityandsafety.com/article/industry-group-petitions-fda-to-amend-labeling-rules-for-low-and-no-calorie-sweeteners/

In the News

Sugar logo

A Look at Sugarbeet, Sugarcane’s Increasingly Popular Roles In American Spirits

April 1, 2023

Europe has a long history of making vodka from beet sugar, and rum has been made with both sugar cane juice and molasses for hundreds of years. However, vodka made from sugar cane juice, and spirits made from beet sugar are relatively [...]

The Washington Post Logo

How fake sugars sneak into foods and disrupt metabolic health

March 7, 2023

Many people are cutting back on their sugar intake for health reasons. But the food industry has found another way to give consumers their sweet fix. It is quietly replacing the sugar in many packaged foods with sucralose, stevia, allulose, erythritol and a wide variety of other artificial sweeteners and sugar substitutes.[...]

The Washington Post Logo

Food Fight: FDA is redefining ‘healthy’ and food industry is pushing back

March 5, 2023

…Under the proposal, manufacturers can label their products “healthy” only if they contain a meaningful amount of food from at least one of the main food groups such as fruit, vegetable or dairy, as recommended by federal dietary guidelines. They must also adhere to specific limits for certain nutrients, such as [...]

More Articles

Stay in Touch

Sign Up