The National Institute of Food and Nutrition (INAN in Spanish) reports that through the Food Safety and Control Directorate, in the year 2024 the surveillance and control activities of tabletop sweeteners marketed in the country have been intensified.
The actions consisted of sampling products for analysis in the institution’s laboratory, notification of the results to the responsible/owners of the products for withdrawal from the market or adaptation of the products according to what was detected as a result of the control, as well as evaluation of the Good Manufacturing Practices and/or Good Storage Practices of the establishments. Thirty samples of sweeteners have been analyzed.
The presence of ingredients not declared in the labeling or in their original composition at the time of granting the R.S.P.A. has been laboratory detected. In all cases, INAN, after the notifications made, is in the follow-up stage for the verification of the adjustments.

The Ministry of Health has published a Public Consultation Project for the modification of the Sanitary Regulation of Foods to include a mandatory message on the label of those products that contain sweeteners, a legend “CONTAINS SWEETENERS. AVOID CONSUMPTION BY CHILDREN”.

Art 120 ter:
Food products that contain among their ingredients sweeteners regulated in article 146 of this regulation, either directly or through other ingredients that contain them, must label on the front of their packaging the following legend: “CONTAINS SWEETENERS. AVOID CONSUMPTION BY CHILDREN”

The directors of the National Health Surveillance Agency (ANVISA in Portuguese), meeting during the 15th Ordinary Public Assembly of 2023, deliberated on the modification of the framework applicable to dietary and tabletop sweeteners. The proposal aims to contribute to a more consistent and proportional application of nutrition labeling of products, based on their compositional characteristics and intended use.

The idea is that table-top sweeteners should be classified as food additives formulated with one or more authorized sweeteners, intended for use by the final consumer to sweeten food or beverages. Dietary sweeteners should be defined as table-top sweeteners formulated without the addition of the ingredients sucrose, fructose and glucose.

The change in the legal framework would focus on the following aspects:

• The frontal nutrition declaration of these products will now be prohibited, considering that food additives are included in Regulatory Instruction No 75/2020, more precisely in Annex XVI, which defines the list of foods whose frontal nutrition labeling is prohibited.

• The definition of the serving size of table-top sweeteners will be made by the manufacturer, according to the preparation instructions indicated on the label, in accordance with Resolution of the Collegiate Council (RDC) 429/2020 (art. 9, V), in a manner similar to synthetic sweeteners.

• Dietary sweeteners will follow the standard list of nutrients to be declared in the Nutrition Facts table, similar to table-top sweeteners and other formulated food additives, also in accordance with DRC No 429/2020 (art. 5, I to XIII).

It is important to note that there will be no other changes to the substance of other established health requirements on composition, safety, labeling and regularization of products.