Cebu Daily News
A sugar industry leader has warned that some food and beverage manufacturers might be using artificial sweeteners or sugar substitutes, which are harmful to the health.
Enrique Rojas, president of the National Federation of Sugarcane Planters Inc. (NFSP), on Wednesday noted the drop in the sugar withdrawals in the Philippines, which could indicate that food and beverage manufacturers might be using sugar substitutes, sugar premixes or even synthetic artificial sweeteners such as magic sugar.
Rojas noted that sugar withdrawals from September 2010 to December 12, 2010, have dropped by 50 percent, compared to the previous period.
Based on the Sugar Regulatory Administration sugar production bulletin, sugar withdrawals as of December 12, 2010, reached only 259,835 metric tons, way below the 604,001 metric tons registered on Dec. 12, 2009.
For refined sugar, withdrawals as of December 12, 2010, were pegged at 156,329 metric tons, compared to 330,555 metric tons for the same period in crop year 2009-2010. The volume of refined sugar withdrawn from the refineries also dropped by more than 50 percent, Rojas added.
“To save on their production cost, some unscrupulous companies may have resorted to using cheaper sugar substitutes and artificial sweeteners in their food and beverage products, at the expense of the health of the public,†Rojas said.
One of the artificial sweeteners is magic sugar which is actually sodium cyclamate, a cheap sweetener which was found to be carcinogenic by health experts worldwide. As such, its use has been banned in many countries, including the Philippines and the US, an NFSP press statement said.
A small pack of magic sugar, which sells for about P30, can reportedly sweeten a gallon of cold drinks. It is reportedly sold under the Gold Bell brand, manufactured in Indonesia and smuggled into the Philippines, the NFSP disclosed.
Recently, a cargo of magic sugar was apprehended by the Bureau of Customs in Zamboanga.
A few years ago, the National Bureau of Investigation Bacolod under Mamerto Cortez had confiscated packets of magic sugar, which were openly sold in one of the local grocery stores in the city, it added.
Hence, it is not inconceivable that magic sugar may have made a comeback in the food and beverage market, Rojas said.
Aside from having adverse health effects, the use of magic sugar would also displace the use of domestically and naturally produced sugar and would deprive sugar producers of the rightful return on their investments, Rojas pointed out.
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