Washington Insider -- Monday

By DTN's Washington Insider

Here's a quick monitor of Washington farm and trade policy issues from DTN's well-placed observer.

Food Manufacturers Oppose Proposed 'Added Sugars' Labeling Requirement

Food companies last week told Food and Drug Administration officials that a proposal to separately report natural and added sugars on food labels is not based on science and could actually confuse consumers who want to reduce their intakes of sugar.

Organizations like the American Frozen Food Institute and the Sugar Association argue there isn't enough scientific evidence suggesting added sugars directly contribute to health conditions like obesity and heart disease, while nutrition experts and health officials disagree.

FDA will continue to receive public comments on its labeling proposals through the first of August and could issue final rules later this year. It would be the first FDA mandated food label design change in more than 21 years.

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Immigration Reform Remains Bottled Up in House

It was just over a year ago that the Senate approved legislation that would provide a comprehensive reform of U.S. immigration laws and regulations. In the intervening 52 weeks, the House has not taken up, much less approved, a similar bill.

The reason most often given for the lack of action is that House Republicans cannot agree among themselves on legislation that they could pass. Last week, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said she is "confident that the speaker [Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio] is of good heart and good mind on this subject, and we hope that we will be able to do something soon."

Most observers predict that the legislation will receive no action in the House until after the November elections, if then. It is more likely that the next Congress that will be seated in January will need to re-start the legislative process regarding immigration reform.

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Washington Insider: Another Label Debate

The Food and Drug Administration is proposing to change some Nutrition Facts labels and held a recent seminar to listen to both sides of the issue. A number of groups, from the food manufacturing industry to vegan moms, weighed in on the proposals.

Two items got much of the heat –– the proposed "special line" describing added sugars and the new rules for serving sizes. Other possible tweaks also got noticed, including more prominent calorie displays, the addition of information about vitamin D and potassium, and updates to the "reference amount customarily consumed."

In real English, that means the data on which "serving sizes" are based. For example, FDA is proposing to change its estimated serving size for ice cream from half a cup to a full cup. Servings would change for yogurt, bagels, candies and sodas, among others.

The agency had initially presented the proposed changes in March and will be taking public comments until Aug. 1. The changes proposed would be the first to the labels since they appeared in 1993, except for a line for trans fats that was added in 2006.

The idea of providing separate information for "added sugars" is somewhat confusing to many lay people but is widely used by nutritionists who note that the largest single source of fructose in U.S. diets is not naturally present sugars, but those added in processing. In fact, these account for approximately two thirds of total fructose intake according to national health surveys. In general, added sugars include sucrose, corn syrup and high-fructose corn syrup.

Nutrition scientists and public interest groups think the changes FDA is proposing for the labels would be a good idea, especially since added sugars represent 15% of the American diet, according to Michael Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, which supports the change. Additional evidence of a connection between added sugars and poor health has grown in recent years, according to Frank Hu, a professor of nutrition and medicine at Harvard University. "This proposal is science-driven," he told the press.

Industry groups claim that the added sugars line requires other estimates of daily requirements –– value estimates –– by FDA, which have not been completed. Nutrition groups that support the FDA proposals say they do not want to wait for that research and point to the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans which calls for lower added sugar intake. The World Health Organization also suggests reducing added sugars to as low as 5% of daily caloric intake.

Industry groups, including the Grocery Manufacturers Association and the Food Marketing Institute, argue that a defensible "added sugars" line would be impossible to define, since some sugars occur naturally. They also argue that information on nutrition content from such specific sources would add very burdensome record-keeping requirements.

The dairy industry says it is especially concerned about the new label proposals, especially the current proposal to double the caloric count per serving on ice cream cartons.

Following recent FDA meetings on the label issues, FDA's Mike Taylor said the agency would consider tweaking its current proposal. "On issues like serving size, it’s a very data-driven determination," Taylor said. "To the extent that we can get data that shows us that what we proposed should be changed, we’re wide open to that."

Certainly, the food industry is right in its assertion that developing information to make the current nutrition labels even more specific is burdensome and requires careful interpretation if it is to be helpful. At the same time, the U.S. obesity epidemic is widespread and very severe, and sugar and other sweeteners have played a role in its spread.

To the extent that additional nutritional information can be developed and made available to consumers, the food industry should play its part in helping fill this national need, Washington Insider believes.

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