Posted March 7, 2014
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is
reopening the comment period on its draft guidance for industry on declaring
“evaporated cane juice” as an ingredient on food labels, according to an FDA
Constituent Update available here. The Federal Register notice is available here.
The draft
guidance states FDA’s view that sweeteners derived from cane syrup “should
not be listed on food labels as evaporated cane juice because the sweetener is
not juice as juice is defined in Federal regulations (Title 21 of the Code of
Federal Regulation, Section 120.1(a).”
FDA is reopening the comment period to obtain
additional data and information to better understand: “(1) the basic nature and
characterizing properties of the ingredient in question; (2) the method of
production of this ingredient; and (3) the difference between this ingredient
and other sweeteners made from sugar cane.”
The comment period will end on May 5, 2014.
The term “evaporated cane juice” (ECJ) has been the
subject of numerous food labeling class action lawsuits, according to an
article by Forbes available here.
Plaintiffs in ECJ cases argue that the draft guidance
and the warning letters established an FDA standard of the use of the term. Defendants, on the other hand, argue that establishing
the correct terminology is within the exclusive purview of FDA, and “because
exercise of that authority is ongoing, courts should defer to FDA under the
prudential ‘primary jurisdiction’ doctrine.”
For more information on food labeling, please visit the
National Agricultural Law Center’s website here and here.
