Is it sugar, or “evaporated cane juice”? The FDA says they’re the same thing, folks.
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The Food and Drug Administration seems intent on bringing sugar out of the shadows.
Not only will food companies have to reveal, right on the package, how much sugar they’ve added to food; they also will have to call it by its real name.
The FDA is taking aim at one of sugar’s cover identities: evaporated cane juice. This ingredient made its appearance about 25 years ago and has been especially popular among companies that have cultivated a healthful image, including Amy’s Kitchen, Kind and Chobani.
Just like sugar, this ingredient is created by crushing sugar cane to extract the juice, then purifying that juice, getting rid of the water and turning it into fine crystals. However, it still contains a bit of molasses, which is completely removed from the cane sugar you find in the store.
Food companies that use this ingredient maintain that it’s different from sugar and that “evaporated cane juice” is its proper name. Others disagree.
“Evaporated cane juice is the food industry’s latest attempt to convince you that crystallizing sugar by t…