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From:
James Fischer <[log in to unmask]>
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Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Wed, 6 Jun 2018 20:33:53 -0400
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The US FDA is worried that people are eating too much sugar.
They have been working on a labeling program, where "added sugars" are
flagged on the nutrition label.
Don't panic, this is only a direct problem for the biggest packers, see
below, but it is going to hurt the public perception of honey as a whole.

https://www.fda.gov/Food/GuidanceRegulation/GuidanceDocumentsRegulatoryInfor
mation/LabelingNutrition/ucm513734.htm#AddedSugars
https://tinyurl.com/y8jpmjbb

The FDA DOESN'T mean "sugar added to this food", which is what everyone
reads when they see "added sugars".

They mean "additional sugar in the customer's DIET", Despite using the
phrase "ADDED sugars" rather than "ADDITIONAL sugars", or "ADDITIONAL
dietary sugars".

The problem is that honey seems to be "part of the problem" from the FDA's
point of view.
After a howl of rage from honey and maple syrup producers, who know
perfectly well what "added sugars" mean on ANY label, the FDA made things
worse.
Instead of exempting things that are 100% natural sugar, honey and maple
syrup producers instead we get the opportunity to offer a lame and
long-winded excuse in fine print:

"The agency heard from the honey and maple syrup industries about their
concerns that consumers may believe their products are adulterated if they
declare “added sugars” on the label, when in fact, no sugars have been added
to the products.. In response to these concerns about economic adulteration,
the FDA issued Draft Guidance for Industry: Declaration of Added Sugars on
Honey, Maple Syrup, and Certain Cranberry Products.

The draft guidance would allow manufacturers to use the “†” symbol
immediately after the added sugars percent Daily Value information on pure
honey, pure maple syrup, and certain cranberry products. The symbol would
lead the reader to truthful and non-misleading statements outside the
Nutrition Facts label to provide additional information regarding the added
sugars"

https://www.fda.gov/Food/GuidanceRegulation/GuidanceDocumentsRegulatoryInfor
mation/ucm595578.htm
https://tinyurl.com/y9tk7c33

So, honey, as  a general rule, will be 100% "added sugars" on the nutrition
label.

I was pressured years ago by a officious VA state bureaucrat to list
"ingredients" on my honey label, despite the large-font bold "Honey" on the
front of the label.  The result was the list that I use to this day -
"INGREDIENTS: Sunshine, Flowers, Rain, and Buzz".

But this sugar thing is gonna hurt the image of honey.  "Manufacturers with
less than $10 million in annual food sales would receive an extra year to
comply – until January 1, 2021."

Most all of us are "exempt" from having a nutrition panel at tall, so if you
have a nutrition panel, drop it before 2021.

(a) "Low-Volume Products", applies if the person claiming the exemption
employs fewer than an average of 100 full-time equivalent employees and
fewer than 100,000 units of that product are sold in the United States in a
12-month period. To qualify for this exemption, file an annual notice with
FDA. 

(b) Sales Volume exemptions include retailers with annual gross sales of
less than $500K, or with annual gross sales of foods or dietary supplements
to consumers of not more than $50K. For these exemptions, no notice to the
FDA is required.

So most of us need do nothing to comply, but the overall effect is to
require the labels of most large honey brands to besmirch the "good name of
honey".

Older beekeepers will find in the grocery that "Sugar Smacks" cereal from
the 1960s has been renamed "Honey Smacks".

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