SPRINGVILLE TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- A proposal from the feds to require all maple syrup producers to include added sugar labels appears to be off the table.
For one maple syrup producer in Susquehanna County, the news comes as a relief.
Randy Loch has been in the maple syrup business in Susquehanna County for nearly 40 years and only now have he and his wife gone all in on a brand-new stand for fairs and events
And when the Springville-based maple producer puts his syrup up for sale, he won't have to include a label that says the maple syrup includes "added sugar."
"We've got the nutritional labels on the back to describe exactly what's in it. It is sugar and carbohydrate," Randy Loch said.
The sugar bush at Loch's may be idle after a season spent making syrup from the sap from all their maples but that doesn't mean Loch and his fellow maple producers weren't fired up about the possible FDA move to require those labels.
"It's been pretty confusing and misleading. (It) really caught everybody off guard why a pure natural product would have ingredients of sugar added to it when nobody makes syrup puts any sugar whatsoever in it. It's the naturally occurring sugar that comes from the tree," said Loch.
Loch's Maple Syrup just finalized its own versions of labels for last August, that cost a pretty penny. If the FDA went through with its proposed changes to the added sugars, Loch would have had to go through that all over again.
"The producers, it would have been a lot of time and added expense updating the labels for really no reason."
Loch believes it's a big win for maple syrup producers. His operation was one of more than 3,000 comments on the FDA website pushing to keep the labels the way they are, both for maple syrup and honey.
"It's a good thing, the FDA did listen to everyone's concern. They didn't just plow through it and pass it."
The FDA still plans to find a way to let consumers know the sugar content of foods including maple syrup.