bake - September 2014 - 16

legislation

Labeling Added Sugar
An "added sugars" listing on the Nutrition Facts Panel might

reasonable RACCs that encourage innovation for bakery prod-

cause consumers to believe food and beverage products

ucts. Additionally, from an ABA sponsored packaging survey,

have more sugar than they actually do, according to prelimi-

results revealed that bakery and packaging members would

nary research released by the International Food Information

need signiﬁcantly more time for changes and implementa-

Council (IFIC) Foundation.

tion. Therefore, both sets of comments request ﬁve years for
compliance.

The Food and Drug Administration proposed a mandatory
listing of "added sugars" below "sugars" when the agency

"Feedback from our membership was overwhelming - ABA's

proposed wholesale changes to the Nutrition Facts Panel in

collaborative process included discussions with the Retail

the March 3 issue of the Federal Register. The IFIC Foundation,

Bakers of America, who co-signed the comments, enabling us

based in Washington, included the added sugar research in

to focus and produce strong comments that reﬂect the impact

comments it ﬁled to the FDA on Aug. 1, the last day the agency

of the revisions on both large and small bakers," Sanders says.

accepted public comments on the proposed changes.
Potential Confusion
The American Bakers Association (ABA) ﬁled comments in

The IFIC Foundation commissioned Turner Research Network,

response to FDA's proposals revising both the Nutrition Facts

a marketing research consulting ﬁrm in Dunwoody, GA, to

Panel (NFP) and Serving Sizes. "These sweeping proposals

conduct consumer research in June and July. A national on-line

would impact every packaged food product in the market-

survey involved 1,088 people. People were exposed to three

place. It is critical that any ﬁnal policy changes be based on

Nutrition Facts Panels: the current one with only a "sugars"

sound science, and ABA's comments question the science,

listing; the one proposed by the FDA with a "sugars" listing and

or lack of science, behind the Agency's NFP proposal," says

an "added sugars" listing; and one with a "total sugars" listing

Lee Sanders, ABA senior vice president government relations

and an "added sugars" listing.

and public affairs. "ABA's comments were developed through
extensive dialogue, the consensus process of the ABA Food

When asked to give the total amount of sugar in the product

Technical Regulatory Affairs and additional input from the full

after looking at each panel, 92% who viewed the ﬁrst one with

membership."

only "sugars" gave the correct answer. The percentages fell to
55% for the one with "sugars" and "added sugars" and 66% for

ABA's Nutrition Facts Panel Proposal response focuses special

the one with "total sugars" and "added sugars."

emphasis on the importance of science based policy and
key issues for bakers including the deﬁnition of ﬁber; added

When viewing the "sugars" and "added sugars" Nutrition Facts

sugar declaration and records access authority. ABA's serving

Panel, 52% said they believed the added sugars are added to

size comments focus on dual column labeling policy and

the amount in the sugars listing, which is incorrect.

16 < SEP 2014 | bakemag.com
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bake - September 2014

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