- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has announced new food labelling regulations that will show added sugars for the first time.
- Added sugars include any sugar that is not naturally occurring in the product, from high fructose corn syrup to honey.
- The “calories from fats” has also been scrapped to reflect current research on healthy fats.
For the first time ever, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has demanded food manufacturers to clearly label added sugars in their products.
That is, the totally unnecessary sugars that are stuffed into everything from canned fruit to mayonnaise. The FDA’s definition of added sugars follows the World Health Organization’s, meaning that even fruit juice concentrates and honey will be listed on the new labels (not just the powdered white stuff).
With the average American eating around 23 teaspoons of sugar each day, this is going to wake up and shake up the public’s perceptions of “healthy” food. After all, products like yoghurt can hide up to six teaspoons of sugar per serve, under the guise of fruit purees and “low-fat” labels.
Speaking of fats, the FDA also dropped the “calories from fat” label, and reflecting current evidence that some fats are healthier than others, will label what kind of fat it is instead. Which is exciting, seeing as low-calorie options like margarine include harmful artificial trans fats while calorie-dense avocado is full of the good stuff.
Predictably, many food industry leaders aren’t happy – the Sugar Association even suggested it might sue the FDA over “dangerous precedent that is not grounded in science”. But with huge meta-analysis studies now proving the risk of excess sugar consumption, it’s clear the FDA is the just the latest organization to realise and act on its dangers. Who will be next?
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