The movement toward limiting added sugars and requiring them to be included on food labels is leading a growing list of trends that could significantly decrease the amount of sugar being used in food products. How will these actions affect dairy foods companies and other sweetener users and providers? How are consumers reacting? What are the regulatory implications?

Answers to these questions and more are on tap for the International Sweetener Colloquium, which is less than three weeks away. Co-sponsored by IDFA and the Sweetener Users Association, the Colloquium will be held February 21-24 at the Turnberry Isle Miami in Aventura, Fla.

The program also will feature a session on “Food: What’s Safe? What’s Natural?” to consider consumer concerns about food safety and their demand for attributes that qualify a food as “natural.” The Food and Drug Administration is active on both these topics, first offering wide-ranging regulations to implement the Food Safety Modernization Act and to change the nation’s food-safety culture to one of prevention. Second, FDA is considering whether to define what “natural” means in foods and which foods would be allowed to make the claim.

Other sessions will cover the world sugar outlook, labeling products with genetically modified ingredients, creating sustainable cane sugar supply chains, building consumer trust and confidence, an insider’s look at the 2016 elections and what lies ahead for the sugar policy landscape. Also, the keynote speaker is Michael Scuse, under secretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services, U.S. Department of Agriculture, who will likely make his last appearance as the administrator of the U.S. sugar program.  

For the full agenda, registration information and hotel details, visit the International Sweetener Colloquium microsite.

Members with questions may contact Maria Velasco, IDFA coordinator of meetings and educational services, at mvelasco@idfa.org.