The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is currently considering allowing certain cranberry products to feature educational footnotes on their labels to disclose more information on the role of added sugars. In comments submitted to FDA last week, IDFA supported expanding this option to flavored and sweetened dairy products, noting that this would increase consumer understanding of the role added sugars play in dairy foods and could help encourage consumption of healthy dairy products.
IDFA stressed that sugar-sweetened dairy products are both nutrient-dense and can be a part of a healthy eating plan, according to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
IDFA urged FDA to allow dairy companies to use statements such as “Sugars added to provide additional flavoring for [milk, yogurt]. The 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans state that there is room for limited amounts of added sugars in the diet, especially from nutrient-dense foods like dairy products.”
In the comments, IDFA said, “Dairy foods have excellent nutrient density, and even those options that contain reasonable amounts of added sugar may still have high nutrient density due to the inherent levels of beneficial nutrients that they provide. A variety of dairy products, including flavored and sweetened options, may encourage increased consumption of dairy.”
For more information, contact Cary Frye, IDFA senior vice president of regulatory affairs, at cfrye@idfa.org or Michelle Matto, R.D.N., IDFA’s nutrition and labeling consultant, at amfoodnutrition@gmail.com.