Sugars are water-soluble, sweet-tasting compounds belonging to carbohydrates
and are used in various ways as sweeteners to not only supply energy to the
human body but also to improve sweetness or functionality during cooking or
processing of foods. T...
Sugars are water-soluble, sweet-tasting compounds belonging to carbohydrates
and are used in various ways as sweeteners to not only supply energy to the
human body but also to improve sweetness or functionality during cooking or
processing of foods. Today, with the development of the food industry and the
increased consumption of processed foods, concerns are growing about excessive
intake of sugars, and excessive intake of sugars is linked not only to childhood
obesity but also to obesity, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, metabolic
syndrome and Side effects have been reported through research.
According to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, based on the 2021
National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, the results of analysis of Korean
people's sugar intake through processed foods show that two out of five Korean
children and adolescents consume as exceeding sugar intake per day through
processed foods as per the World Health Organization (WHO). It was found to
exceed the recommended standards, and in particular, infants and children aged 1
to 5 had the highest rate of sugar intake through fruit and vegetable drinks.
Accordingly, the government is making efforts to reduce sugar intake, such as
operating a system to reduce sugar and improving public awareness. In other
countries, as well as restricting the sale of sugar-sweetened beverages, and
introducing a sugar tax in some countries, the government is trying to reduce sugar
intake by reducing sugar-sweetened beverages. Regulations are actively being
implemented, which can be seen as a result of beverages contributing significantly
to sugar intake through processed foods.
The definitions and scope of total sugars, free sugars, and added sugars differ
slightly by country, and most countries manage their citizens' sugar intake levels
and management in terms of added sugars or free sugars rather than total sugars.
For the purpose of harmonizing with international standards, the Ministry of Food
and Drug Safety established new no added sugar labeling standards that focus on
whether or not sugars are added during the manufacturing and processing of food,
rather than whether sugars are detected. However, in terms of regulatory operation
and food labeling, the industry is demanding clear detailed guidelines and
regulations based on concerns about violation of labeling standards and difficulties
in making judgments in the field due to vague and unclear examples of raw
materials included in sugars. In addition, the current regulatory operation of the no
added sugar labeling standards is being reviewed for violations of the Ministry of
Food and Drug Safety's labeling standards based on raw material labeling
information and product manufacturing reports, and the nutritional labeling of sugar
content is also required to display only the total sugar content, so the verification
method for sugar added to actual products can be seen as an attempt to
systematize the current regulations, as there are no standards.
Accordingly, in accordance with the sugar reduction policy, this study
established a sugar composition database for no added sugars fruit and vegetable
juice distributed domestically among beverages that are major sugar intake factors,
and used this to visualize the content of natural sugar and added sugar, which
cannot be chemically distinguished. In this study, a sugar composition database of
domestic distributed fruit juice, the main sugar intake factor, was established in
accordance with the sugar reduction policy. This was visualized by separating the
contents of natural sugar and added sugar in no added sugar fruit juice products.
The study was also conducted to identify and improve the current regulatory
loopholes in the government's overall regulations, and to derive research tasks to
be pursued in relation to the details of the labeling standards for food in the
future. As a research method, five types of fruit juice that are applying no added
sugars labeling were selected and analyzed for sugar through the solution of
finished products and raw materials, and this was verified based on sugar analysis
by date by estimating changes in the composition and content of sugar according
to enzyme activity.
As a result of the study, there was no significant difference in the total sugar
content of the finished product from each raw material (P value>0.05), and through
this, it was first verified that there was no artificial addition of sugars among the
finished products other than sugars derived from raw materials. However, in the
case of Sample_1 and Sample_2, a significant difference between the disaccharide
sucrose and the monosaccharide Fructose and Glucose was confirmed in the test
value of the finished product compared to the value calculated from the sugar
composition and content of each raw material. This was estimated by the
decomposition of sucrose and the substitution and content increase of
monosaccharide Fructose and Glucose according to the enzyme activity. As a result
of analyzing the sugar composition and content of each raw material in the
product, the change in sugar composition and content according to the enzyme
activity in the raw materials of A2-1 (Kiwi) and A1-3 (Kale) was finally
confirmed. As a result, it was verified that the composition and content of sugars
could change according to the activity of natural enzymes in the raw material
without the addition of artificial sugars and enzymes, and through this, the
necessity of regulatory operation considering the characteristics of raw materials was
suggested. In the case of A2-1 (Kiwi) raw materials, the change in the Fructose
content was insignificant in the sugar composition and content results by date, but
the change in the Glucose content increased was somewhat remarkable. This
showed the same pattern as the analysis result in Sample_2's finished product. This
tendency between raw materials and products confirmed the possibility of the
existence of additional enzymes that can lead to changes in the Fructose content in
A2-1 (Kiwi) raw materials, which supports the need for institutional
supplementation reflecting the characteristics of raw materials in the current
regulatory operation.
Therefore, this study confirmed the necessity of establishing an enzyme activity
database of fruit and vegetable raw materials in fruit and vegetable juices based on
experimental design and further research considering the optimal temperature
conditions for enzyme activity in the future. When reviewing the application of
the no added sugar labeling based on the relationship in the established database,
the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety suggested the need to institutionalize and
stipulate legal grounds to review the characteristics of each raw material in the
product. We propose a sugar composition and content database of products subject
to non-additive labeling as a verification method for compliance with the
non-additive labeling standards. The database is a raw material database that is
expected to be used as basic data for the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety's
integrated nutritional database.