FDA’s advice to footnote ‘added sugars’ gets tart replies

The Food and Drug Administration has been flooded this month with sour comments about its plan to require honey, maple syrup and cranberry products to include “added sugars” on nutrition labels.Remarks from New England maple syrup makers have been particularly bitter. They say they don’t “add” sugar to their naturally sugary product. “The only thing the producers do is evaporate water from the sap of this liquid gold,” one commented.The FDA counters that consumers should know how much “added sugar” maple syrup adds to pancakes. Judging by the flavor of the 2,900 comments submitted online, the reasoning has not been persuasive. “You have to be kidding,” a woman remarked. “You think someone pouring pure 100 percent maple syrup from a jug onto a pile of pancakes doesn’t know they are adding sugar to their breakfast?”