Food and Health E-ssentials

FDA Issues Final Guidance About Added Sugars in Certain Foods 

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has published its final guidance on the labelling of added sugars in certain food products.

Published in mid-June, “Guidance for Industry: The Declaration of Added Sugars on Honey, Maple Syrup, Other Single-Ingredient Sugars and Syrups, and Certain Cranberry Products” is intended to provide clarity regarding the FDA’s regulations on the labelling of added sugars for single ingredient packages or containers of pure honey, maple syrup and other single ingredient sugars and syrups. 

Specifically, under the final guidance, these single-ingredient products are not required to declare on the Nutrition Facts label the number of grams of added sugars in a serving of the product. However, producers must still include the percent of Daily Value for added sugars, so that consumers can make informed dietary choices.   

The final guidance also clarifies labelling requirements for certain dried cranberry products and cranberry beverage products. While such products must still declare added sugars and percent Daily Value for those added sugars on the Nutrition Facts label, producers may use a symbol immediately following that information to direct consumers to additional information outside of the label. 

It is important to note that guidance documents issued by the FDA are provided only to offer insight into the Agency’s current thinking on a given regulatory issue, and are not a substitute for actual FDA regulations. 

A copy of the FDA’s guidance on the labelling of added sugars is available for download here. The FDA has also prepared a fact sheet that summarises the key issues addressed in the guidance and includes sample Nutrition Facts labels that conform with the guidance. The fact sheet is available here.