The reformulated beverages, which contain stevia, are labeled "naturally sweetened". The new version of the drink, produced by Coca-Cola subsidiary Glacéau, contains slightly less sugar, but the same amount of calories.
Trouble is, soft-drink makers only seem to be slapping on the "natural" label for beverages sweetened with sugar.
When he went to buy groceries he grew confused about what to purchase - looking at GMO labeled foods, at artificially sweetened cereals, at tired-looking vegetables probably not sprayed with DDT, at hormone-fed chicken legs, at a wide variety of sweets on checkout line, and too many brands of natural spring water to choose from.
Yet now the dairy industry is getting a hearing on its 2009 citizen's petition (PDF linked here) asking FDA for permission to abandon those front label disclosures for artificially dairy sweetened products -- and not just on flavored milk, but also on seventeen other dairy products having nothing to do with schools, including whipping cream, sour cream, nonfat dry mik and more.
Last week, the Food and Drug Administration FDAacknowledgedged a 2009 petition from the International Dairy Foods Association IDFAandand the National Milk Producers Federation that seeks to drop the FDA requirement to label milk and other dairy products as "artificially sweetened" when they contain sweeteners such as aspartame.
Most of the samples (18) were labelled as containing steviol glycosides, though beverages sweetened with other compounds were also taken into account.
The FDA simply requires the front of the label to note that the milk is artificially sweetened.
Currently, the FDA allows the dairy industry to include aspartame and other sugar substitutes in its products, but the label must state that the product is artificially sweetened, according to Yahoo Health.
Consider, for instance, a bottle of sweetened iced tea, which is currently labeled to contain 22 grams of sugar per serving.
Panera Bread has committed to offering moderately sweetened and no added sugar beverages along with labeling calories and added sugar in its beverages at the point of pour and on the cup.
