FDA Set to Allow Modified 'Added Sugars' Claims on Cranberry Juice, Honey and Maple Syrup
The Food and Drug Administration intends to allow modified “added sugars” claims on nutrition facts labels for cranberry juice, pure honey and maple syrup, it said in a draft guidance document issued March 1. Labelers of such products may include…
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a symbol after the amount of added sugars in their products referring to a clarifying footnote, FDA said. For example, for cranberry juice, the footnote may say that the sugars are added to “improve the palatability of naturally tart cranberries” and do not bring the overall levels of sugar above those in similar juice products. For honey, the footnote can say that “all these sugars are naturally occurring in honey” to clarify there is no corn syrup or cane sugar added, FDA said. The “enforcement discretion” policy comes in response to industry concerns that non-endogenous sweeteners are being used in honey and maple syrup and that consumers of cranberry juice may see it as less healthy than other juices. FDA set the new “added sugars” requirement in a May 2016 final rule, among other changes for nutrition facts labels (see 1605200021). FDA recently proposed to extend the first compliance dates for the new labels until 2020 (see 1709290014).