Sugarwise is the international certification authority for sugar claims on food and drink. It assesses foods and beverages on the basis of their sugar claims. The authority certifies and allows use of its logo on products with no more than 5g of free sugars in 100g in a food or 2.5g of free sugars in 100ml in a beverage, that can also carry a sugar claim. The low free sugar standard is derived from the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of h ...

guidelines for daily intake of free sugars.

The Sugarwise Test

The Sugarwise test distinguishes between

free sugar Free may refer to: Concept * Freedom, having the ability to do something, without having to obey anyone/anything * Freethought, a position that beliefs should be formed only on the basis of logic, reason, and empiricism * Emancipate, to procu ...

s and intrinsic sugars in a food or drink product for the first time and was developed by Cambridge University Scientists. Sugarwise adheres to the WHO guidelines on free sugar content: "Free sugars include monosaccharides and disaccharides added to foods and beverages by the manufacturer, cook or consumer, and sugars naturally present in honey, syrups, fruit juices and fruit juice concentrates."

Policy and Public Affairs

#DontTaxHealthy

Sugarwise was one of the two organisations behind the #DontTaxHealthy campaign to cut VAT on healthy food and continues to lobby for tax breaks on low sugar food and drink.

Parliamentary Engagement

Sugarwise has held Summits at the UK

Houses of Parliament The Palace of Westminster serves as the meeting place for both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Informally known as the Houses of Parliament, the Palace lies on the north bank ...

, chaired by

Keith Vaz Nigel Keith Anthony Standish Vaz (born 26 November 1956) is a British Labour Party politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Leicester East for 32 years, from 1987 to 2019. He was the British Parliament's longest-serving Br ...

in his capacity as Chair of the

APPG An all-party parliamentary group (APPG) is a grouping in the Parliament of the United Kingdom that is composed of members of parliament from all political parties, but have no official status within Parliament. Description and functions All-party ...

for Diabetes, in a bid to promote lower-sugar food and drink and help tackle the growing threat of obesity and diabetes. Sugarwise's Patron is Lord Clive Brooke, Baron Brooke of Alverthorpe. A Summit at the European parliament was convened in September 2017 supported by

Alex Mayer Alexandra Louise Mayer (born 2 June 1981) is a former British Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for the East of England region for the Labour Party. She took up the post in November 2016 following the resignation of Richard Howitt, and ...

. This called for tariffs to be removed for healthier food and drink across the EU post Brexit And was followed by a third summit at the UK Houses of Parliament on 13 September 2017.

History

Sugarwise was launched in March 2016 with the assistance of

Enterprise Europe Network The Enterprise Europe Network provides support for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) with international ambitions. Co-funded by the European Union's COSME and Horizon 2020 programmes, the Network's aim is to help businesses innovate and gro ...

. Mother-of-one Rend Platings founded the organisation after hearing England's chief medical officer's revelation that, as a result of obesity, today's generation of parents may be the first to outlive their children. The Sugarwise logo was developed by design firm Pemberton & Whitefoord (P&W) with the support of

Tesco Tesco plc () is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Welwyn Garden City, England. In 2011 it was the third-largest retailer in the world measured by gross revenues and the ninth-largest in th ...

. The first product to be certified was JimJams reduced-sugar chocolate spread. In July 2017 Sugarwise certified "Sugar Free" recipes magazine sold in UK supermarkets.

References

External links

The official website of Sugarwise
{{UK-charity-stub Food policy in the United Kingdom Health charities in the United Kingdom Organisations based in Cambridge Sugar