Food labels should contain more detail about how much sugar is in a product, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Friday.
It’s proposed a rule to require that food labels not only say how much sugar is in a product, but what percentage the sugar adds to the daily recommended intake. Packages already tell people about the percentage of sodium, fat, cholesterol and fiber. But they just give sugar content in grams, not in terms of daily recommended intake.
Federal guidelines suggest people get no more than 10 percent of their daily calories from added sugar.
“When sugars are added to foods and beverages to sweeten them, they add calories without providing additional nutrients,” the agency said in a statement.
“For the past decade, consumers have been advised to reduce their intake of added sugars, and the proposed percent daily value for added sugars on the Nutrition Facts label is intended to help consumers follow that advice,” said Susan Mayne, director of the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition.
There's a 75-day comment period.
"The FDA is also proposing to change the current footnote on the Nutrition Facts label to help consumers understand the percent daily value concept. In addition, the FDA is releasing results of its consumer studies on the declaration of added sugars and the footnote," the agency said.
