FDA adds inulin to approved dietary fibres list

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has recently announced that an additional eight carbohydrates can be labelled as dietary fibre, including inulin and inulin-type fructans derived from chicory root.

This decision has been welcomed by Sensus, a manufacturer of chicory root fibres, among many others. It follows the company’s submission of a joint citizen petition to include chicory root in the list of dietary fibres accepted in the US.

In May 2016, the final rule for the FDA’s Nutrition Facts labels defined dietary fibre as either non-digestible soluble and insoluble carbohydrates that are intrinsic and intact in plants, or as isolated or synthetic non-digestible carbohydrates that have demonstrated a beneficial physiological effect.

FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, MD, said in a statement, “Before the FDA established this definition, manufacturers could declare synthetic or isolated fibres as fibre on the label without evidence that these fibres had beneficial physiological effects on the body. Consumers can be assured that non-digestible carbohydrates counted as fibre on the new Nutrition Facts label have health benefits grounded in scientific evidence.”

For the past two years, the food industry has been waiting to hear if several synthetic non-digestible carbohydrates would be accepted as dietary fibre on labels.

Carl Volz, President at Sensus America, said, “Inulin/oligofructose has been clearly shown to support physiological health benefits as assessed by the FDA’s strict criteria. The FDA’s inclusion of chicory root fibre as a dietary fibre in its new food labelling regulations allows our customers to continue marketing their products as sources of dietary fibre and to continue to use chicory root fibre as a tool to reduce calories and added sugar.”

The seven other approved fibres are: mixed plant cell wall fibres such as sugar cane fibre, arabinoxylan, alginate, high-amylose starch (resistant starch 2), galactooligosaccharide, polydextrose and resistant maltodextrin/dextrin.

Gottlieb stated this provides food manufacturers with additional clarity to help them make necessary updates to their labels ahead of the compliance date, which is 1 January 2020 for manufacturers with $10 million or more in annual food sales and 1 January 2021 for smaller manufacturers.

Top image supplied by Sensus.