Statement: Sugar Association Reminds FDA There Are No “Added Sugars” in Sugar

WASHINGTON (March 6, 2017) — The Sugar Association submitted comments today to FDA on its draft guidance for compliance with newly adopted revisions to the Nutrition Facts Label that will appear on packaged foods and beverages. The new labels are expected to go into effect for larger food companies by July 2018. The new label will require bags, boxes or other retail packages of sugar to declare their contents as ‘added sugars.’

“We are baffled by the notion that sugar could contain ‘added sugars’,” said Sugar Association CEO Courtney Gaine, Ph.D., R.D. “Unlike everything else on the label, ‘added sugars’ is not a nutrient. It’s just a term that refers to an ingredient that has been added to a product. Saying that there are ‘added sugars’ in sugar will undoubtedly confuse consumers and further complicate what we know is already a difficult concept for people to understand. Sugar is just sugar and there is nothing added to it.”

Contact: Beth Casteel, casteel@sugar.org, 202-785-1122 x190