FDA considers added sugar label for maple syrup, honey

Congo Ebola ‘largely contained’

MONTPELIER, Vt, June 21, (Agencies): The US Food and Drug Administration is reconsidering its plan to require that pure maple syrup and honey be labeled as containing added sugars.

Maple syrup producers had rallied against the plan, saying the nutrition labels updates were misleading, illogical and confusing and could hurt their industries.

No sugar is added to pure maple syrup or honey. However, the FDA’s update would have defined maple syrup as an added sugar, both when used as a sweetener in the processing of other foods and as a stand-alone product.

The agency’s goal was to update the Nutrition Facts label on products to educate consumers about the amount of added sugars in foods based on government dietary guidelines that recommend no more than 10 percent of daily calories come from added sugars.

After receiving more than 3,000 comments on its draft plan, the FDA acknowledged that the labeling was confusing and that it would now come up with a revised approach for maple syrup and honey.

“The feedback that FDA has received is that the approach laid out in the draft guidance does not provide the clarity that the FDA intended. It is important to FDA that consumers are able to effectively use the new Nutrition Facts label to make informed, healthy dietary choices. The agency looks forward to working with stakeholders to devise a sensible solution,” the FDA said.

The American Honey Producers Association had said that the plan could lead to consumers wondering what’s being added to pure honey, when nothing is.

Its president, Kelvin Adee, said the only way to provide clarity to consumers is to exempt single-ingredient products like honey from the “added sugars” requirement.

In Vermont — the country’s largest producer of maple syrup — the congressional delegation and state’s attorney general urged the FDA commissioner to reconsider the added sugars label for maple syrup, with Attorney General T.J. Donovan calling on Vermonters to comment on the FDA’s plan.

“I applaud the FDA’s decision to hear Vermonters on this issue,” Donovan said Tuesday. “We all agree that consumers have a right to know what is in their food, especially when it comes to their health and safety,” he said. “And, we also agree that common sense is a virtue.”

Maple syrup producer Roger Brown, of Slopeside Syrup in Richmond, Vermont, has been a leading voice on the issue. He said the FDA’s response to the feedback is a good step.

“I applaud the FDA for acknowledging the relevance of the issue and the need to re-examine it,” he said. “I am grateful that this question and this issue has been a part of a pretty broad conversation and has generated a lot of support from the maple community, from Vermonters and maple fans around the country.”

Frappuccino sales are struggling, and concerns about how much sugar the slushy drinks contain may be among the reasons.

Starbucks says sales from the drinks that mix coffee, ice, syrup and milk are down 3 percent from a year ago, and is blaming the “health and wellness” trend for the dip.

“These are oftentimes more indulgent beverages — higher in sugar, higher in calories,” Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson said during a presentation to investors Tuesday.

Not everyone thinks Americans are suddenly waking up to how much sugar is in a Frappuccino. Peter Saleh, restaurant analyst for BTIG, notes that interest in healthy eating isn’t new: “It’s not something that popped up out of nowhere.”

GENEVA:

Also:

Democratic Republic of Congo’s Ebola outbreak has been “largely contained” and no new cases of the disease have been confirmed since the last known sufferer died on June 9, the World Health Organization said on Wednesday.

The UN health body said it viewed the situation with “cautious optimism”, despite the difficulty of tracking down people who may have been exposed to the deadly virus in remote forests close to the Congo River.

The outbreak has killed 28 people since early April.

“Slightly over a month into the response, further spread of EVD (Ebola virus disease) has largely been contained,” the organisation said in a report.

The outbreak triggered particular concern because it occurred in a remote northwestern area that was hard to reach but close to the Congo River, causing fears it could take root in a neighbouring city or spread to the capital Kinshasa, a city of more than 10 million people.