FDA Issues Guidance on Allulose, Seeks Comments on Non-Traditional Sugars

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued final guidance on the declaration of allulose in food. “The guidance describes FDA’s views on the declaration of allulose on Nutrition Facts and Supplement Facts labels and the caloric content of allulose,” according to the announcement. “The guidance also announces our intent to exercise enforcement discretion for the exclusion of allulose from the amount of Total Sugars and Added Sugars declared on the Nutrition Facts and Supplement Facts label and use of a general factor of 0.4 calories per gram (kcal/g) for allulose when calculating declarations on Nutrition and Supplement Facts labels.”

The agency also announced a request for comments on “the nutrition labeling of sugars that are metabolized differently than traditional sugars,” such as allulose, D-tagatose and isomaltulose. According to the announcement, “Some sugars (e.g., allulose, D-tagatose, isomaltulose) do not have all of the same effects in the body as traditional sugars. Because of that, we have received multiple requests from industry to treat these sugars that are metabolized differently than traditional sugars as distinct from traditional sugars for purposes of nutrition labeling.” Comments will be accepted until December 18, 2020.