Docket Number:
FDA-2019-D-0725
Issued by:

Guidance Issuing Office

Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition

October 2020

This guidance provides our current view on the declaration of allulose on Nutrition and Supplement Facts labels, as well as on the caloric content of allulose.  This guidance also advises manufacturers of our intent to exercise enforcement discretion for the exclusion of allulose from the amount of “Total Sugars” and “Added Sugars” declared on the label and the use of a general factor of 0.4 calories per gram (kcal/g)2 for allulose when determining “Calories” on the Nutrition and Supplement Facts labels pending review of the issues in a rulemaking.

In arriving at our decision to consider the exercise of enforcement discretion, we considered data and information provided in citizen petitions and in comments to the draft guidance, and other information submitted to us.  We received a citizen petition requesting the exemption of allulose from the declaration of “Total Carbohydrate,” “Total Sugars,” and “Added Sugars” on the Nutrition Facts label (Docket Number FDA-2015-P-1201) (Ref. 1).  We also considered a citizen petition requesting the use of a general factor for caloric value of allulose of 0.4 calories per gram (kcal/g) (Docket Number FDA-2016-P-2030) (Ref. 3), and another citizen petition requesting the use of a general factor for the caloric value of allulose of 0.2 kcal/g (Docket Number FDA-2017-P-1463) (Ref. 4).  We considered these citizen petitions (as well as comments submitted to the dockets for these citizen petitions) in conjunction with comments to a proposed rule titled “Food Labeling: Revision of the Nutrition and Supplement Facts Labels” (79 FR 11880, March 3, 2014) (“the proposed rule”).  We also conducted an independent review of the scientific evidence related to the cariogenic potential, metabolism, and caloric value of, and glycemic response to, allulose.

FDA’s guidance documents, including this guidance, do not establish legally enforceable responsibilities.  Instead, guidances describe our current thinking on a topic and should be viewed only as recommendations, unless specific regulatory or statutory requirements are cited.  The use of the word should in FDA guidances means that something is suggested or recommended, but not required. 

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Related Resources

2 Calories per gram or kilocalories per gram (kcal/g) has been defined as the amount of heat energy needed to raise the temperature of a kilogram of water 1oC (determined at 14.5oC to 15.5oC) and is the unit that has been traditionally used for expressing the energy value of foods (Ref.2).

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