FDA Provides Update on Added Sugar Labeling for Honey and Maple Syrup

U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Scott Gottlieb issued a statement providing an update on how mandated added-sugar labeling will affect honey and maple syrup. “We recognized that this new labeling information on ‘packaged as such’ products may inadvertently lead consumers to think their pure products, such as a jar of honey or maple syrup, may actually contain added table sugar or corn syrup because there are ‘added sugars’ listed on the label,” Gottlieb notes. FDA previously proposed the use of an additional disclosure for honey and maple syrup products, but “the more than 3,000 comments we received on the draft guidance indicate that there are further opportunities to update our proposed approach,” according to the press release.

Gottlieb indicated that final guidance will be released in 2019. “This guidance will provide a path forward for pure, single-ingredient ‘packaged as such’ products that does not involve the standard ‘added sugars’ declaration on the Nutrition Facts label. We are not considering changes to the required percent daily value for these products, including for products like pure honey and maple syrup. We believe that such a solution strikes the balance of addressing producer concerns that their products could be perceived as being economically adulterated while still informing consumers on how these products contribute to their daily added sugar intake.”