In Episode 25 of the Healthy Menu Podcast, we’ll go over what Added Sugars are, and the rules for adding them to your Nutrition Fact Labels.
Light Transcript of the Podcast
Added sugars are syrups and sugars that are added to foods or beverages during preparation or processing. They are often found in foods low in other nutrients such as dairy and grain-based desserts, sweets, and sugar-sweetened beverages. In 2016, the FDA completely revamped the traditional food label in terms of its content and design. It still stands that food labels must identify percentages of calories, fats, carbohydrates, etc. as well as the food source names of ingredients that contain one of the major identified food allergens such as peanuts or soy.
The FDA issued a final rule to extend the compliance dates for the Nutrition Facts Label from July 26, 2018, to Jan. 1, 2020, for manufacturers with $10 million or more in annual food sales and those with less than $10 million in annual food sales had until Jan. 1, 2021, to comply.
Manufacturers of most single-ingredient sugars such as honey and maple syrup and certain cranberry products have until July 1, 2021, to make the changes, which is just a few weeks away.
These changes to nutrition fact labels are to help consumers maintain healthy dietary practices.
The FDA has stated that “the updated information on food labels is consistent with current data on the associations between nutrients and chronic diseases, health-related conditions, physiological endpoints, and/or maintaining a healthy dietary pattern that reflects current public health conditions in the United States.”
