Added Sugars is a required label nutrient in the 2016 food labeling regulations and, as such, manufacturers have questions about compliance. This blog talks about what to do when your entire product is an “Added Sugar” as defined by the FDA.

Labeling single ingredient sugars

Question: How do I label Added Sugars and Total Sugars if the single-ingredient product I’m selling (maple syrup) is considered by the FDA to be an added sugar? 

Answer: With the passage of the 2018 Farm Bill, FDA’s final ruling on single-ingredient products and Added Sugars declaration reads:

The food labeling requirements under section 403(q) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 343(q)) shall not require that the nutrition facts label of any single-ingredient sugar, honey, agave, or syrup, including maple syrup, that is packaged and offered for sale as a single-ingredient food bear the declaration “Includes X g Added Sugars.”

The FDA’s final guidance on this matter, published in June 2019, clarified that for single-ingredient sugars, syrups, and honey, the Added Sugars line, listed below the Total Sugars, will show only the %DV and not the “Added Sugars” text. Furthermore, a dagger symbol must be placed after the %DV on the Added Sugars line which refers consumers to a footnote located just below the % Daily Value Statement at the bottom of the Nutrition Facts label. The statement, which relates the amount of Total Sugar and the %DV of Added Sugars, should be expressed as follows: “One serving adds Xg of sugar to your diet and represents X% of the Daily Value for Added Sugars.”

The FDA defines Added Sugars as:

Sugars that are either added during the processing of foods or packaged as such and includes sugars (free, mono- and disaccharides), sugars from syrups, and sugars concentrated from fruit or vegetable juices that are in excess of what would be expected from the same volume of 100% fruit or vegetable juice of the same type.

These include:

• Honey
• Molasses
• Corn Sweetener
• Sugar (raw sugar, brown sugar, cane sugar, beet sugar, dextrose, fructose, glucose, invert sugar, lactose, maltose, malt sugar, trehalose, turbinado, sucrose, galactose)
• Syrup (high fructose corn syrup, malt syrup, crystalline fructose, maple syrup)
• Fruit Juice Concentrates (in some cases**)

**The following conditions exempt fruit or vegetable juice concentrates as Added Sugars:

• If from 100 percent juices sold to consumers (retail)
• If used towards the total juice percentage label declaration (§101.30)
• If used for Brix standardization under §102.33(g)(2)
• If used to formulate the fruit component of jellies, jams, or preserves (§§150.140 and 150.160) or as the fruit component of fruit spreads

You can read the guidance document on the FDA’s website.

Adding sugars in Genesis R&D

In accordance with the new FDA guidelines, we’ve updated Genesis R&D Foods to reflect these new regulations. Now, label creators are able to hide the declaration “Includes (X)g Added Sugars” and show only the percent Daily Value (%DV) of Added Sugars, immediately followed by a dagger symbol and an explanatory footnote inside the Nutrition Facts label.

Please note: In Genesis R&D, “Total Sugars” and “Added Sugars” are separate data fields. Be sure that both fields are populated for your ingredient so that the correct information is reported on your label.

Here are the step-by-step instructions for labeling a single-ingredient sugar product in Genesis R&D:

1. Create your Recipe. (In this example, the Recipe just includes table sugar, with a serving size of 1 teaspoon.)
2. View the Label. When the label first appears, you will see a line for Added Sugars with the name, quantitative value, and %DV. Like this:
3. Click Edit Label Select Format Options.
4. Expand U.S. and scroll to Added Sugars and expand it.
5. Check Show Single Ingredient Symbol and Footnote
6. Click OK. It will look something like this:
   
7. “Added Sugars” and its quantitative value are automatically hidden, and the footnote appears.

Prefer video walkthroughs? Check out our quick tutorial on Adding Single Ingredient Sugars.

Learn more: Check out our webinar: The Buzz on FDA’s Definition of Added Sugar or download our eBook, Cutting Through Labeling Confusion, to learn about these changes and more!

Authors Note: This post was originally published on February 23, 2018, and has been updated to reflect the most current FDA Nutrition Facts Labeling guidelines.