Panel Treatment ≠ Claim Protection The FDA's decision to allow both allulose and tagatose to be excluded from Total Sugars and Added Sugars on the Nutrition Facts panel represents a formulation win for manufacturers—but it does not extend to front-of-package claims, according to Icon Foods. Thom King, Chief Innovation Officer at Icon Foods, framed the distinction bluntly: "The lawsuits aren't telling us these molecules don't work. They're telling us our vocabulary hasn't caught up with our chemistry." The enforcement discretion applies only to panel treatment. Chemically, both allulose and tagatose remain monosaccharides, and the terminology governing front-label claims has not changed to reflect their regulatory status.

The Risk in "Zero Sugar" Claims Formulators who simply relabel products as "Zero Sugar" after receiving panel relief are exposing themselves to litigation. The molecules themselves have not changed. TagaLite™ tagatose still delivers about 92% of sucrose's sweetness at roughly 1.5 kcal/g and browns aggressively. KetoseSweet™ allulose remains equally functional. The path forward, King suggested, is descriptive rather than absolute: instead of claiming what is absent, formulators should describe the actual sweetening system. "Sweetened with tagatose and monk fruit. Four grams of tagatose per serving. Thirty-five calories per can," he noted. "Numbers narrow the promise."

Why It Matters

For operators and formulators, the takeaway is clear: panel relief and claim compliance are separate regulatory questions. Manufacturers can legitimately exclude these rare sugars from Nutrition Facts totals, but claiming "zero sugar" on the front requires a communications strategy grounded in what is actually in the product, not what was removed. The distinction may seem semantic, but it is increasingly the difference between product approval and litigation.

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Written by FBM Publications Editors