Ingredients Declared as Evaporated Cane 
Juice: Guidance for Industry 
Additional copies are available from: 
Office of Nutrition and Food Labeling 
Food Labeling and Standards Staff, HFS-820 
Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition 
Food and Drug Administration 
5001 Campus Drive 
College Park, MD  20740 
(Tel) 240-402-2371 
http://www.fda.gov/FoodGuidances 
You may submit electronic or written comments regarding this guidance at any time.  Submit 
electronic comments to http://www.regulations.gov.  Submit written comments on the guidance 
to the Division of Dockets Management (HFA-305), Food and Drug Administration, 5630 
Fishers Lane, rm. 1061, Rockville, MD 20852.  All comments should be identified with the 
docket number FDA-2009-D-0430 listed in the notice of availability that publishes in the 
Federal Register.  
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 
Food and Drug Administration 
Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition 
May 2016  Contains Nonbinding Recommendations 
Table of Contents 
I. Introduction
   
II. Background
   
III. Discussion
   
IV. References
   
  2  Contains Nonbinding Recommendations 
Ingredients Declared as Evaporated Cane 
1
Juice: Guidance for Industry
 
This guidance represents the current thinking of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA or we) 
on this topic.  It does not establish any rights for any person and is not binding on FDA or the 
public.  You can use an alternative approach if it satisfies the requirements of the applicable 
statutes and regulations.  To discuss an alternative approach, contact the FDA staff responsible 
for this guidance as listed on the title page. 
I.  Introduction 
The purpose of this guidance is to enhance consumers ability to make informed choices among 
sweeteners by promoting accurate and consistent labeling.  More specifically, this guidance is 
intended to advise the regulated industry of our view that the term evaporated cane juice is not 
the common or usual name of any type of sweetener and to assist manufacturers in appropriately 
labeling products that contain sweeteners derived from the fluid extract of sugar cane. 
FDAs 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.  
II.  Background  
In recent years the term evaporated cane juice has appeared as an ingredient on food labels, 
most commonly to declare the presence of sweeteners derived from the fluid extract of sugar 
cane.  However, as discussed in detail in section III of this guidance document, FDAs view is 
that such sweeteners should not be declared on food labels as evaporated cane juice because 
that term does not accurately describe the basic nature of the food and its characterizing 
properties (i.e., that the ingredients are sugars or syrups) (Refs. 1, 2, 3).  Moreover, the use of 
juice in the name of a product that is essentially sugar is confusingly similar to the more 
common use of the term juice -- the aqueous liquid expressed or extracted from one or more 
fruits or vegetables, purees of the edible portions of one or more fruits or vegetables, or any 
concentrates of such liquid or puree (21 CFR 120.1(a)).  Thus, the term evaporated cane juice 
is false or misleading because it suggests that the sweetener is juice or is made from juice 
and does not reveal that its basic nature and characterizing properties are those of a sugar. 
As provided in 21 CFR 101.4(a)(1), Ingredients required to be declared on the label or labeling 
of a food . . . shall be listed by common or usual name . . . .  The common or usual name for an 
                                                 
1 This guidance has been prepared by the Food Labeling and Standards Staff in the Office of Nutrition and Food 
Labeling in the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. 
  3  Contains Nonbinding Recommendations 
ingredient is the name established by common usage or by regulation (21 CFR 102.5(d)).  Each 
class or subclass of food is to be given a common or usual name that states, in clear terms, what 
it is in a way that distinguishes it from different foods.  The common or usual name, which may 
be a coined term, must accurately describe, in as simple and direct terms as possible, the basic 
nature of the food or its characterizing properties or ingredients; must be uniform among all 
identical or similar products; and may not be confusingly similar to the name of any other food 
that is not reasonably encompassed within the same name (21 CFR 102.5(a)).  
Sugar cane products exist in many different forms, ranging from raw sugars and syrups to refined 
sugar and molasses.  These products are differentiated by their moisture, molasses, and sucrose 
content as well as by crystal size and any special treatments (e.g., treatment with sulfur).2  Sugar 
cane products with common or usual names established by regulation are sugar (21 CFR 
101.4(b)(20)) and cane sirup (alternatively spelled syrup) (21 CFR 168.130).  Several other 
sugar cane products have common or usual names established by common usage (e.g., molasses, 
brown sugar, turbinado sugar, muscovado sugar, and demerara sugar).  For purposes of 
ingredient labeling, sugar is defined to mean sucrose obtained from sugar cane or sugar beets 
in accordance with 21 CFR 184.1854, the regulation affirming that sucrose is generally 
recognized as safe (GRAS) for use in food when used under specified conditions.  The GRAS 
regulation describes sucrose as the substance obtained by crystallization from sugar cane or 
sugar beet juice that has been extracted by pressing or diffusion, then clarified and evaporated 
(21 CFR 184.1854(a)).  To be GRAS for use in food, sucrose must be of a purity suitable for its 
intended use (21 CFR 184.1854(b)).   
On October 7, 2009, FDA published a draft guidance entitled Guidance for Industry: 
Ingredients Declared as Evaporated Cane Juice in the Federal Register (74 FR 51610) to advise 
industry of FDAs view that the common or usual name for the solid or dried form of sugar cane 
syrup is dried cane syrup, and that sweeteners derived from sugar cane syrup should not be 
declared on food labels as evaporated cane juice because that term falsely suggests the 
sweeteners are juice.  On March 5, 2014, we reopened the comment period (79 FR 12507) for the 
draft guidance seeking further comments, data, and information about how the ingredient 
sometimes declared as evaporated cane juice is produced, what its basic nature and 
characterizing properties are, and how it compares with other sweeteners made from sugar cane.  
We received numerous comments on the draft guidance.  The majority of comments objected to 
the term dried cane syrup.  Several comments from sugar producers asserted that this term 
does not accurately describe the ingredient they produce, mostly because the standardized food 
cane syrup is not the starting material or an intermediate step for the ingredient they refer to as 
evaporated cane juice.  Based on comments stating that the ingredient sometimes declared as 
evaporated cane juice is not made from cane syrup as defined in 21 CFR 168.130, FDA is no 
longer recommending that this ingredient be labeled as dried cane syrup.   
Many comments described the process used to manufacture the ingredient described as 
evaporated cane juice, and some comments also described the manufacturing process for other 
products derived from sugar cane.  The initial processing steps are generally the same for all 
products produced from sugar cane.  After sugar cane is harvested, it is cut or shredded and then 
crushed to extract the fluid.  The extracted fluid is clarified and then evaporated to concentrate 
                                                 
2 Honig, P. Principles of Sugar Technology.  Elsevier Publishing Company. 1953. 
  4  Contains Nonbinding Recommendations 
the solids.  To make the product evaporated cane juice, the concentrated cane extract is filtered 
and undergoes a single crystallization process.  The crystals are then separated from the molasses 
using centrifugation.  From the comments, the method of filtering the evaporated cane juice" 
fluid varies from producer to producer, as does the method used for single crystallization. 
Most other common types of cane sugar (e.g., white sugar, brown sugar) are not filtered prior to 
the first crystallization.  After the crystals are separated from the molasses using centrifugation, 
as part of the refining process, the sugar is melted and re-crystallized.  Most cane-based 
sweeteners, including white sugar, undergo multiple crystallization steps.  
Some comments stated that evaporated cane juice has essentially the same composition as 
white sugar and other sweeteners derived from sugar cane.  As support for this point, one 
comment provided a specification sheet for evaporated cane juice indicating that the ingredient 
contains between 99.0 and 99.8% sucrose.  The comment also included a specification sheet for 
another product identified as certified organic sugar and pointed out that the composition of 
the two products was identical except that the organic ingredient was made with organic sugar 
cane.  Other comments focused on the differences between evaporated cane juice and other 
cane-based sweeteners.  For example, some of these comments stated that evaporated cane 
juice has a different composition from white sugar because it retains traces of molasses and 
minerals.  A few comments said that evaporated cane juice is different than other less refined, 
alternative sugars because it contains less molasses and can be substituted for white sugar in 
processed foods without affecting the taste or appearance of the finished product. 
III.  Discussion 
This guidance is intended to help consumers make informed choices among sweeteners by 
promoting accurate and consistent labeling.  To that end, we are advising the regulated industry 
of our view that the term evaporated cane juice is not the common or usual name of any type 
of sweetener and that this ingredient should instead be declared on food labels as sugar, 
preceded by one or more truthful, non-misleading descriptors if the manufacturer so chooses  
(e.g., cane sugar). 
In developing this guidance, FDA reviewed the Codex Alimentarius Commissions (Codexs) 
Standard for Sugars, Codex Stan. 212-1999 (Ref. 4), which provides standards for certain sugars 
intended for human consumption without further processing, to determine whether Codex had 
established a standard for a product similar to that described on some U.S. food labels as 
evaporated cane juice.  The Codex Standard for Sugars contains no product identified as 
evaporated cane juice.  However, the Codex standard does define raw cane sugar3 as 
[p]artially purified sucrose, which is crystallised from partially purified cane juice, without 
further purification, but which does not preclude centrifugation or drying, and which is 
                                                 
3 The Codexs definition of raw cane sugar refers to a different product than raw sugar as FDA uses that term.  
As used in FDAs Compliance Policy Guide (CPG) entitled Raw Sugar, that term refers to the intermediate food 
product as it leaves the sugar factory mill for further refinement in sugar refineries before use as food.  In general, 
raw sugar is unsuitable for human food use because it contains extraneous impurities which are removed in the 
refining process.  CPG 515.400; revised March 1995. 
http://www.fda.gov/ICECI/ComplianceManuals/CompliancePolicyGuidanceManual/ucm074439.htm 
  5  Contains Nonbinding Recommendations 
characterised by sucrose crystals covered with a film of cane molasses.  This standard appears 
to describe the same sweetener referred to in many of the comments as evaporated cane juice. 
We agree that the common or usual name used to describe this ingredient on food labels should 
include the term sugar because that term describes the basic nature and characterizing 
properties of the food. 
In contrast, the term evaporated cane juice describes neither the basic nature of the food nor its 
characterizing properties, and therefore does not comply with 21 CFR 102.5(a).  Juice is 
defined by 21 CFR 120.1(a) as the aqueous liquid expressed or extracted from one or more 
fruits or vegetables, purees of the edible portions of one or more fruits or vegetables, or any 
concentrates of such liquid or puree.  This relatively narrow definition is the one used for 
purposes of the juice hazard analysis and critical control point (HACCP) regulations (21 CFR 
Part 120) and the juice labeling regulation in 21 CFR 101.30.  There are broader definitions of 
juice that are used in other contexts.  For example, in the context of botany and food 
technology, juice is a general term referring to the fluid extract of any plant.4  However, in the 
context of diet and nutrition, juice has the narrower meaning reflected in the definition of 
juice in 21 CFR 120.1(a), which covers only liquid obtained from fruits or vegetables.  
Although we do not dispute that sugar cane is a member of the vegetable kingdom in the broad 
sense of classifying an article as animal, vegetable, or mineral, FDA considers the term 
vegetable in the context of the juice definition to refer more narrowly to edible plant parts that 
consumers are accustomed to eating as vegetables in their diet.  Sugar cane is not a vegetable in 
this sense.  While consumers can purchase pieces of sugar cane, consumers do not eat sugar cane 
as a vegetable but instead use it as a source of sugar by chewing on the cane or its fibers or by 
placing the cane in a beverage to sweeten it.  There are other plant juices used for human food 
that similarly are not vegetable juice or fruit juice for purposes of the juice definition; e.g., 
maple syrup and sorghum syrup.  In summary, our view is that the fluid extract of sugar cane is 
not the juice of a plant that consumers are accustomed to eating as a vegetable in their diet and is 
not, therefore, juice as contemplated by the regulation defining that term (Refs. 1, 3). 
Sugar cane is clearly not considered a fruit or vegetable by experts in nutrition and health, nor do 
those experts consider the fluid extract of sugar cane to be a type of fruit or vegetable juice.  
Rather, they consider it to be a source of sugar.  For example, the Department of Agricultures 
Center for Food Policy and Promotion lists cane juice and sugar cane juice among the many 
names for added sugars on its dietary guidance  Web site for consumers (Ref. 5).5  A newsletter 
posted on the Department of Health and Human Services  Web site warns that cane juice is 
one of the ingredient names used to hide added sugar in beverages and recommends for health 
reasons that any fruit juice given to children be 100 percent fruit juice without any form of added 
sugar, including cane juice.6  Dietary advice on health organization  Web sites is similar.  For 
                                                 
4 For example, Dictionary.com Unabridged defines juice in relevant part as the natural fluid, fluid content, or 
liquid part that can be extracted from a plant or one of its parts . . . .  http://www.dictionary.com/browse/juice.  
Retrieved April 25, 2016. 
5 U.S. Department of Agriculture, Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion. Added Sugars. 
http://www.choosemyplate.gov/added-sugars.  Retrieved April 20, 2016. 
6 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Head Start, National Center on Health. Health Services 
Newsletter:  The Role of Drinks with Sugar in Childrens Oral Health.  February 2015. 
http://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/hslc/tta-system/health/docs/health-services-newsletter-201502.pdf.  Retrieved April 20, 
2016. 
  6  Contains Nonbinding Recommendations 
example, the Mayo Clinic Web site lists cane juice and cane syrup as forms of added sugar 
that consumers should cut back on for better health and nutrition.7  None of these  Web sites 
defines sugar cane as a vegetable or classifies the fluid extract of the sugar cane plant as juice 
that counts toward the recommended number of daily fruit and vegetable servings. 
In FDAs view, the common or usual name for the ingredient currently labeled as evaporated 
cane juice includes the term sugar and does not include the term juice.  The basic nature of 
the ingredient is that it is a sugar and its characterizing property is that of a sweetener.  FDAs 
food labeling regulations provide that sucrose obtained from sugar cane or sugar beets in 
accordance with 21 CFR 184.1854 shall be referred to as sugar in ingredient labeling (21 CFR 
101.4(b)(2)).  Section 184.1854(a) describes sucrose as the substance obtained by crystallization 
from sugar cane or sugar beet juice that has been extracted by pressing or diffusion, then 
clarified and evaporated.  Based on the numerous comments indicating that the ingredient 
declared as evaporated cane juice is produced in this manner, it follows that the common or 
usual name for the product should be or include sugar.  As discussed in the Background 
section, current names that are used for several other sweeteners made from sugar cane (e.g., 
turbinado sugar, demerara sugar, and muscovado sugar) are names that have been established by 
common usage.  In each instance, the basic nature of the food is described by use of the term 
sugar.  FDA would not object to the addition of one or more truthful, non-misleading 
descriptors before the common or usual name sugar.  Such a descriptor, which could be a 
coined term, could be used to distinguish the ingredient from white sugar and other sugars on the 
market by describing characteristics such as source, color, flavor, or crystal size. 
Sweeteners derived from sugar cane should not be listed in the ingredient declaration by names 
such as evaporated cane juice, which suggest that the ingredients are made from or contain 
fruit or vegetable juice as defined in 21 CFR 120.1.  We consider such representations to be 
false and misleading under section 403(a)(1) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (the 
Act) (21 U.S.C. 343(a)(1)) because they do not accurately describe the basic nature of the food 
and its characterizing properties (i.e., that the ingredients are sugars or syrups), as required by 21 
CFR 102.5. 
Because sweeteners derived from sugar cane are not juice as defined in 21 CFR 120.1, they 
should not be included in the percentage juice declaration on the labels of beverages that are 
represented to contain fruit or vegetable juice (see 21 CFR 101.30).  Section 101.30 requires the 
percentage of fruit or vegetable juice in beverages purporting to contain such ingredients to be 
declared on the label of the beverage.  FDA would consider a juice product sweetened with an 
ingredient derived from sugar cane and labeled as 100% fruit juice to be misbranded under 
section 403(a)(1) of the Act  (21 U.S.C. 343(a)(1)) because the 100% fruit juice claim is false 
and misleading in that the product contains a non-juice sweetener in addition to the juice.  FDA 
would also consider such a product adulterated under section 402(b) of the Act (21 U.S.C. 
342(b)) because the sweetener has been substituted for part of the juice.  
                                                 
7 Mayo Clinic Staff.  Added sugars:  Dont get sabotaged by sweeteners.  http:/www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-
lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/in-depth/added-sugar/art-20045328.  Retrieved April 25, 2016. 
  7  Contains Nonbinding Recommendations 
IV.  References  
We have placed the following references on display in the Division of Dockets Management, 
Food and Drug Administration, 5630 Fishers Lane, rm. 1061, Rockville, MD 20852.  You may 
see them at that location between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday through Friday.  As of May 12, 
2016, FDA had verified the Web site address for the references it makes available as hyperlinks 
from the Internet copy of this guidance, but FDA is not responsible for any subsequent changes 
to Non-FDA Web site references after May 12, 2016. 
1.  Intergovernmental Ad Hoc Codex Task Force on Fruit and Vegetable Juices, Government 
Comments, p. 16, September 2000. 
2.  FDA letter from Martin Stutsman to Dr. Eric Wilhelmsen (Wilhelmsen Consulting), May 8, 
2000. 
3.  FDA letter from Martin Stutsman to Martin Hahn, Esq., March 9, 2001. 
4.  Codex Standard for Sugars.  Codex Standard 212-1999.  
http://www.fao.org/input/download/standards/338/CXS_212e_u.pdf.  Adopted 1999.  
Amendment 2001.  Retrieved April 26, 2016.  
5.  U.S. Department of Agriculture, Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion.  MyPlate. 
http://www.choosemyplate.gov.  Retrieved April 25, 2016. 
  8