In a global context, as people's health awareness continues to rise and their understanding of the dangers of excessive sugar intake deepens, governments around the world have launched a series of "sugar reduction combinations." These initiatives aim to decrease citizens' sugar consumption and improve overall national health. The policies, mainly including strict restrictions on advertisements for sugary foods targeted at children and mandatory added-sugar labeling policies, are profoundly reshaping the landscape of the food industry.
Stringent Restrictions on Advertisements for Children's Sugary Foods
Countries have adopted diverse approaches in regulating advertisements for children's sugary foods. In the United States, as early as 2008, new advertising laws were announced. As a result, McDonald's had to limit advertisements for its children's meal sets aimed at those under 12, and famous animated characters like Mickey Mouse were banned from appearing in TV commercials for such products.
In the UK, advertisements promoting "junk food" are prohibited from being aired during TV programs targeted at teenagers and in regular programs that they are likely to watch. The UK also imposes numerous restrictions on advertisement content, such as banning celebrities from endorsing food products in programs aimed at primary school students and prohibiting false claims that food can promote children's intellectual and physical development. The Food Standards Agency restricts "junk food" advertisements during children's viewing hours based on the content of fat, salt, and sugar.
Norway and Sweden have implemented severe bans on advertisements for children's "junk food." In France, all food advertisements on all media platforms, whether aimed at children or adults, for processed products or those with sugar, salt, and fat content exceeding the standards, are required to provide relevant nutritional information. Ireland has banned TV advertisements for fast food and candies and requires warning labels on the packaging of these products. In Japan, the law clearly stipulates that television stations are prohibited from broadcasting "junk food" advertisements. If related advertisements are inserted or indirectly broadcast during children's programs, television stations will be subject to hefty fines, and relevant personnel will be held accountable.
The Progressive Roll - out of Mandatory Addedded-Su Labeling Policies
Mandatory added - sugar labeling policies are also steadily advancing in various countries. In March 2025, China released the new version of "National Food Safety Standard-General Principles for Nutrition Labeling of Prepackaged Foods" (GB 28050-2025), which will come into effect on March 16, 2027. This revision expands the mandatory labeled nutrients from "1 + 4" (energy, protein, fat, carbohydrates, and sodium) to "1 + 6," adding sugar and saturated fat (acid) to the list. The regulation aims to more accurately guide consumers to understand the nutritional components of food and make healthier dietary choices. For instance, if a high-sugar beverage labels a sugar content of 30 grams per 100 milliliters, its nutrient reference value will reach 60%, intuitively indicating the risk of overconsumption and enabling consumers to clearly know the sugar content of the product when making purchases.
Since 2022, Singapore has implemented the Nutri-Grade labeling system for beverages, converting sugar and saturated fat content into a four-level, four-color identification system. Beverages classified as Grade C and D must display the Nutri-Grade label on the front of the packaging, and Grade D beverages are prohibited from being advertised on all media platforms. Grade A and B beverages can choose whether to display the label. The National Agency of Drug and Food Control (BPOM) of Indonesia has drafted regulations mandating the use of a "nutritional level" labeling system for sugar, salt, and fat content on the front of packaging and setting a maximum fat content limit. Similar to Singapore's system, the classification divides products into four levels: "A, B, C, D." Grade C and D products are required to display the "nutritional level" and the total fat content per serving or per package. The first phase will apply to ready-to-drink or non-alcoholic beverages.
Far-reaching Impact on the Directions of Food Enterprises
These policy combinations have had a profound impact on the R&D directions of food enterprises. Take Shandong Bailong Chuangyuan Bio-Tech Co., Ltd. as an example. In response to the market demand for low-sugar products and policy guidance, the company has invested heavily in the research and development of D-allulose. Prior to this, the production technology of D-allulose had been monopolized by foreign enterprises. In 2014, Bailong Chuangyuan decided to conduct independent research and development. They faced numerous difficulties, such as the high cost of plant extraction and the low quality of chemical reagent synthesis. The key was to find an efficient enzyme preparation for conversion. The company then collaborated with several institutions, including the China National Research Institute of Food and Fermentation Industries and Shandong University, to tackle technical problems. After solving the enzyme preparation issue in D-allulose production, the company achieved the industrial production of liquid D-allulose. However, the technical challenge of product crystallization remained difficult to overcome. After hundreds of crystallization experiments, the R&D team finally overcame this hurdle in 2019, achieving a crystallization purity of over 99.5%, making it the first domestic enterprise to master this technology and have the ability for industrial production of D-allulose.
D - Allulose has a taste very similar to that of sucrose, with a sweetness 70% that of sucrose and almost zero calories, meeting the demand of modern consumers for low-calorie sweet foods. With high added value, it has great market potential. In 2019, Bailong Chuangyuan built a production line with an annual output of 5,000 tons of crystalline D-allulose, opening up high-end consumer markets in Europe, the United States, Japan, and South Korea, and its product sales have consistently ranked among the top in the international market. In addition to D-allulose, from maltitol to prebiotics, dietary fiber, and healthy sweeteners, since its listing in 2021, Bailong Chuangyuan has seen steady growth in both revenue and profit.
Transformations across the Broader Food Industry
Looking at the broader food industry, sugar reduction methods such as using natural sweeteners or natural ingredients to replace sucrose, flavor modification based on neuroscience principles, and reducing or removing sugar through membrane separation or enzymatic hydrolysis technology have been widely applied across numerous product categories. In terms of product concepts, selling points such as low-sugar, sugar-free, sucrose-free, no-added-sugar, natural sugar, and low-glycemic index (GI), and highlighting health attributes with all-natural and minimalist formulas are constantly emerging. Some enterprises have developed solutions for concentrated sugar carrier complexes made from a mixture of cane/beet sugar and proteins, which can reduce sugar content by 50% while retaining the sweetness and sensory characteristics of sucrose without any aftertaste. In the future, as low-sugar and low-fat become "must-haves" in food development, enterprises will strive to achieve "compound" nutritional claims, such as "low saturated fat + high unsaturated fatty acids," "low sugar + dietary fiber," and other more diverse product positioning, further segmenting products for specific groups such as children, the elderly, and "sub-healthy office workers."
Long-term Influence on Market Pricing
The policy combinations also have a long-term impact on market pricing. On the one hand, enterprises need to invest more funds in scientific research and technological innovation for developing low-sugar formulas, such as searching for suitable low-sugar raw materials and improving production processes, which undoubtedly increases product production costs and may lead to price hikes. For example, some enterprises need to invest more in procurement and supply chain management to obtain high-quality natural sweetener raw materials, and developing new production processes also requires purchasing new equipment and training employees, all of which drive up costs. Take a well-known beverage company as an example. One of its low-sugar beverages, due to the adoption of new sugar reduction technology and high-quality natural sweeteners, has a production cost 20% higher than that of traditional beverages. Correspondingly, the market price of this low-sugar beverage is about 15% higher than that of traditional beverages of the same specification.
On the other hand, as consumers' health awareness increases, their price sensitivity to healthy foods may decrease, and they may be willing to pay more for low-sugar, healthy products. However, for price-sensitive consumers, price increases may prompt them to switch to more affordable traditional high-sugar products. This poses a challenge for enterprises in balancing costs and market pricing. Small enterprises with weak R&D and supply chain control capabilities or those unable to bear the increased costs of inspection items may face the risk of exiting the market due to their inability to adapt to policy changes.
Overall, the global "sugar reduction combinations" are driving profound changes in the food industry. Enterprises need to actively respond to policy changes, increase R&D and innovation efforts, and reasonably adjust their market pricing strategies to gain a foothold in this wave of healthy food transformation. Consumers, in turn, will benefit from having a wider range of healthy food options.
