The Sweetener Aisle
by Kristina Seals
Introduction
Sweeteners have a long and storied connection to America. Â Honey and maple syrup/sugar were the primary sweeteners in early British colonies of North America. (Warner 2011) This changed as the North American colonies gained access to trade with the West Indies and increased their usage of cane sugar and molasses. Â Taxes imposed on cane sugar by Britain helped fuel the desire for American independence. Â As New Englanders established a highly lucrative triangle of trade in which they sent rum to Africa and brought back slaves to the West Indies in exchange for molasses, they saw how profitable it could be to operate outside of the mercantile system. (Mintz 1985) Once America formed an independent nation, it funded its new federal government primarily through tariffs on cane sugar. Â As America expanded, it gained territory capable of growing and producing sugar cane. Â The labor-intensive process of harvesting sugar cane and turning it into granular sugar was carried out largely through forced labor and created an economy that was heavily dependent on slavery. Â Other sweeteners, such as maple and beet sugar, became popular in abolitionist movements as a means to lessen Americaâs dependence on slave labor. Changes in technology and chemical discoveries throughout the 19th and 20th century affected the sweetener industry, which in turn impacted Americans: at home, in the workplace, in political affairs, and in their laws. Â Americansâ desire for sweetness did not decrease as they entered the 21st century but questions regarding its effect on public health have seemingly increased. Â How does the complicated history and politics surrounding sweeteners impact Americansâ purchases and use of different sweetening agents? Â How does this manifest itself in the American grocery store? Â To answer this question, I examined the store shelves of five grocery stores in the North-West quadrant of Washington D.C., a fitting location given it is the place where many of the political and legal controversies surrounding different sweeteners have played out in America. Â
  Field Visits    Â
   Five stores were visited and either one or two aisles were looked at in each store.  In some stores, syrups or liquid forms of sweeteners were on a separate aisle from powdered versions of sweeteners. The majority of sweeteners, especially powdered versions, were located in an aisle of baking goods.  They were generally adjacent to flours and other items used in baking.  Syrups and honeys were often adjacent to peanut butter and jam.  The stores visited were: a Whole Foods Market, a Trader Joes, a Walmart Superstore, a Safeway, and an independent deli/neighborhood convenience store.  As different store types try to appeal to differing types of shoppers or provide different types of shopping experiences, I wanted to see if the store type had any effect on what sweeteners were sold and how they were displayed.  Then collectively, I wanted to know which sweeteners seem to be the most popular with D.C. consumers based on overall shelf space given to specific products throughout all five stores. Â
      The first store visited was the Whole Foods market in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood of D.C.  Sweeteners were found in two different aisles as syrups and liquid sweeteners were on their own aisle.  The other sweetener aisle had five shelves of sweetening agents. One and a half of these shelves were devoted to sixteen stevia based products.  There were six white granular cane sugar products and two confectioners. There were also four brown sugar products and two turbinado sugar products.  They also carried sugar cubes and colored decorative sugar.  This was the only store where I found date sugar.  They also carried two erythritol products, one in granular form and the other in confectioners form.  The other aisle contained: honey, maple syrup, molasses, agave syrup, brown rice syrup, coconut nectar, and corn syrup.  They also carried a âvegan honeyâ that was made from apple juice.  Out of the five stores visited, Whole Foods carried the largest variety of honey and syrups.  Three shelves were devoted to agave products.  The brands of sweeteners carried at Whole Foods all had very detailed labels with stories about how they are made, their benefits, and instructions on how to use them. Â
      The next store I visited was a small neighborhood store, the Palisades Deli, which labels itself as a deli and gourmet grocer.  They had ten items which were grouped together on the middle of the top shelf facing back of store.  The majority of items were cane sugar based.  They had traditional granulated white sugar in an opaque bag but also carried organic sugar and demerara sugar. They had brown sugar and powdered/confectioners white sugar in clear plastic bags laid flat on the shelf.  They carried the three major brands of artificial sweeteners: Sweet and Low, Equal, and Splenda.  These came in boxes which contained little pouches with two teaspoons of product.  They also carried honey but in a powdered form designed to be used like granulated sugar. The labels for these products generally contained recipes or a picture of a beverage that could be made with the product.  The organic sugar did contain details about its manufacturing process.
      On aisle two of the Safeway on MacArthur Blvd, one can find cane sugar in a variety of forms including organic.  Also on this aisle are: maple syrup, corn syrup, molasses, and honey.  They carried a few artificial sweeteners which they placed next to their liquid stevia and monk fruit products.  They also had a couple of interesting liquid hybrid products mixing honey or agave with stevia and monk fruit.  Syrups were directly next to powdered sweeteners but honey was further down next to jellies and peanut butters.  Packaging contained a mixture of environmental claims, health claims, how to use instructions, and recipes.
At Trader Joeâs in Georgetown, I found all types of sweeteners on one aisle. Â They had them separated into four sections: stevia, honey, syrup, and granulated sugar. All sugar was labeled as either organic or free trade and came in bags that allowed you to peek inside. Â Most sweeteners were the store brand including all the sugar and stevia products. Â They carried a lot of honey and pure maple syrup products. Â They also had shelf labels which carried additional information about the sweetener. Also, I did find agave syrup both on this aisle and then again above some frozen food.
      For my final store, I visited Walmart on H St NW. They had their syrups and honey on a separate aisle than their other sweeteners.  They had a wide variety of sweeteners and had generic store brand counterparts to most name brand sweeteners.  This included store brand versions of: sucralose, stevia, saccharin, and aspartame.  The generic versions used the same colored packaging as the name brand and were placed right next to each other.  They had a lot of hybrid products some of which combined sugar with a sugar alternative which were labeled for baking so one could get some of the qualities of sugar needed when baking such as browning while still being fewer calories or just less sugar overall.
Raw Sugar    Â
  One product that was universally carried at all grocery stores visited was cane sugar.  It came in various types of packaging and varieties but it appears cane sugar is still a staple in the majority of American pantries. Refined white granular sugar usually came in an opaque paper sack or in a box.  At a couple of stores it also came in opaque plastic canisters.  In addition to refined white sugar, there were a lot of less refined cane sugar products. These products came in bags which allowed you to see the sugar.  They varied in color from blonde to deep brown.  The less refined nature of these sugars was touted as a positive attribute on packaging. From the price and the difference in labeling, these appeared to be more of a luxury item than the sacks of refined white sugar.  It appears DC consumers are willing to pay a premium for these items.  This is an interesting development given that in 1861 Congress had determined the amount of tariff paid on sugar would be determined based on the Dutch Color Standard. (Warner 2011) The Dutch Color Standard was based on jars containing sugar ranging from dark brown to almost white. The lighter the color, the higher the number.  Those that were highest on this scale paid the largest tariff.  The lighter color was assumed to be correlated with purity, because the refining process removed the microscopic sugar beetles present in raw sugar.  However, some sugar makers from the Demerara region of British Guiana, figured out how to make high purity sugar with a middling color and continued doing so because color alone was being used to determine the tariff.  This style of sugar, with its pale amber color, is still found on store shelves today and is called demerara sugar.  The mid-nineteenth century view of raw sugar as dirty, no longer seems to be prevalent today.  This is evident in the use of the brand name âSugar in the Rawâ on a turbinado sugar product.  These sugar products explain how they are more natural with the subtext being that the more natural a product is, the healthier it is.  Not sure what turbinado sugar is?  Just pick up a package of turbinado sugar at Trader Joeâs and it will explain the process of spinning sugar crystals in a turbine and that there is no coloring, blending or chemical refining involved.  In addition to cane sugar products emphasizing being less refined, the label on a coconut sugar product boasted that it was âpure and unrefinedâ and that it was âunrefined but just as civilizedâ.
  Environmental and Labor Labeling    Â
   Another trend observed was that a lot of packaging for sweeteners emphasized the methods employed in their production which lowered their environmental impact and their improved farming methods.  The consumer interest appears to be substantial based on how much space on labels is devoted to text to convey this message and products paying for the right to use certification logos which signify meeting certain standards in these areas.  One certification that appeared quite odd at first was the carbon free logo claimed on some bags of Dominoâs brand cane sugar.  How can sugar be carbon free, given that the chemical formula for table sugar is: C12H22O11?  According to Domino, these specially marked packages have been certified as having a carbon neutral footprint by Carbonfund.org. The Domino sugar label claims to accomplish this by converting sugar cane and recycled wood waste into electricity.  Why might Dominoâs pay to have this certification on their product? According to Carbonfund.org, Customers are seeking to purchase products from companies which take care of the environment and their certification is a meaningful and transparent way to differentiate their brand as being environmentally-friendly to create loyal customers and increase market share.  The Dominoâs brand is owned by the American Sugar Refining company, who also owns the Florida Crystals brand.  The products I found by this brand were: demerara cane sugar, raw cane sugar, and organic raw cane sugar.  Their motto that is printed boldly on the front of their packaging reads, âEarth Friendly. Uniquely Delicious.â  They explain their sustainable farming practices on their packaging and on their company website they state they are âSweet to Mother Nature!â.  (Florida Crystals)  The development of sugar producers, particularly in Florida, wanting to be seen as stewards of the environment might be their way of changing their image after having made headlines for being fined millions of dollars for violating hazardous waste disposal laws or being seen as forced into responsibility for improving water in the Everglades. (Feder, 1991)  Another popular certification found on a variety of different sweeteners is USDA Organic, which signifies that the product has went through an accreditation process to verify that they follow organic farming methods and have paid to be able to show that on their label.  One product at Whole Foods carrying this label which caught my attention was Biodynamic Cane Sugar, produced by the Wholesome Sweeteners.  In addition to the organic certification, it also certified as biodynamic by Demeter. Demeter Association is a non-profit established in 1985 to promote farming using biodynamic practices.  (Demeter USA) According to the Whole Foods website, this is the first biodynamic sugar on the market and it is exclusively carried by Whole Foods.  Biodynamic farming is a kind of early organic farming method, dating back to the 1920âs, that seeks to be in tune with the rhythms of nature that is based on the ideas of Rudolf Steiner.  (Paull 2013) So far there is only this one product in the sweetener aisle that is Biodynamic; but given the popularity of the organic label it is quite possible this may be the next trend in positive environmental impact labeling. Â
      In addition to environmental practices being highlighted, I also found packages which highlighted their labor practices.  This was most evident in Whole Foods where there was an abundance of products carrying a certification of following fair trade practices.  Only at Whole Foods did I find products which described this in more detail to explain how the farmers were paid.  I did not find fair trade certifications on stevia products.  This is interesting in light of the fact that the US recently confiscated a shipment of Stevia from China under the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015, which bans the importation of products into the US made with forced labor.  (Pentice 2016) The product was suspected to have been made via prison labor in China.  This led to Coca-Cola having to prove that their stevia products did not come from the same source.  It is possible that some companies may want to go through the third-party certification process as a way to help them make certain they are dealing with global partners who are not breaking these new labor laws.  Companies who want to see their products on the shelves of Whole Foods might be motivated to seek fair trade certification because Whole Food Shoppers are often believed to be ethical consumers who in part seek to create positive social change through being mindful of how they spend their money. (Johnson 20007)
  Non-nutritive Sweeteners
  In addition to a variety of sugar products being found in the sweetener aisle, it carries non-nutritive or low to zero calorie sweeteners also.  These are sometimes referred to as sugar substitutes or in the case of ones that are chemically made, artificial sweeteners.  The artificial sweetener that I found with the longest history is Saccharin, which is sold under the Sweet and Low brand name.  Saccharin was originally discovered in 1878 by Constatine Fahlberg. It is a derivative of coal tar.  It was cheaper than sugar due to being 500 times as sweet.  When sugar became scarce during World War II it was used in place of sugar.  However, its value has been questioned since it does not contain carbohydrates like sugar but it has long been seen as being valuable for those who suffer from obesity or diabetes.  For a time it had to be labeled that it was intended for âthose persons who, on account of disease must abstain from the use of sugarâ.  (Warner 2011) I did not find this on todayâs packages.  I also only found this product at 3 of the five stores I visited.  It along with Aspartame, another artificial sweetener developed in the 1960âs, did not receive much shelf space.  Sucralose, a more recently developed artificial sweetener, came in a lot more forms than Saccharine and Aspartame thereby gaining more shelf space.  This came under the brand name Splenda.  Due to it being heat stable it promotes itself as being a good choice for cooking or baking with.  It also came in packages where it was mixed with sugar into a 50/50 product. It appears that shoppers are interested in making baked goods that have less calories but are ok with it having some sugar.  However, the non-nutritive sweetener with the most overall shelf space and found at all five stores is: stevia. Â
      Stevia comes in a wide variety of formats including liquid stevia and stevia mixed with other sweeteners. At Safeway and Walmart, the majority of stevia products came under the Truvia brand.  At Trader Joeâs it only came in a form touted to be pure stevia powder. These two type of stevia products appear quite differently.  This is due to one being a highly-processed extract version of stevia, as is the case with Truvia, and the other being derived from the plant as a whole.  To be approved as a food additive by the FDA stevia must be in the tested extract form.  It has not been approved by the FDA in the non-extract form but is approved to be sold as supplement the way other herbs are.  This is why the label on the product at Trader Joeâs tell you to take a teaspoon daily and does not contain a regular nutrition label.  It appears Trader Joeâs and Whole Foods shoppers want the more natural version of stevia, whereas shoppers at grocery stores which sale artificial sweeteners seem onboard with the extracted version. The Truvia brand which is a product of the Coca-Cola company was the first to make it to market with the approved extracted form.  Like Splenda, they provide multiple formats and are also willing to mix it with other sweeteners including sugars.  I found it mixed with cane sugar and honey. Â
  Conclusion  Â
   The limited scope of this observational study was able to provide some insight into what sweeteners are popular with consumers in Washington DC and what type of marketing strategies are being employed to get them to pick a particular sweetener. However, without seeing which items people pull off the shelves and how long they look at packages before buying most insight gleaned is speculative.  It would be informative to survey those who purchase sweeteners to discuss what elements went into their decision.  Again, the different types of stores could be used to further assess if certain stores truly attract shoppers who are more likely to base their shopping decisions on ethical considerations. Â
      Americans are said to consume an average of 130 pounds of sugar a year a large increase from the average of less than 20 pounds in 1820. (Walton 2012) Given that the majority of food consumed by Americans is processed food, most of this sugar is not coming from the sweetener aisle but rather found in items throughout the store.  It would be interesting to compare which sweeteners are popular with commercial food producers and contrast it with the sweetener aisle. One way to do this is start with one food area at a time.  One area that gets a lot of attention for its use of sugar and even its use of artificial sweeteners is the beverage aisle.  If I were to continue my study that would be my next target.
In 2018, the FDA has ordered that a new food label be used which identifies added sugars in grams and percent of daily value. (Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition) Â It would be interesting to do a study before, shortly after implementation, and a year or two after to see if there is any change to shopping behavior and if that then impacts how much sugar is used by commercial food producers or in how the package is designed. Â
References
Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. (n.d.). Labeling & Nutrition - Changes to the Nutrition Facts Label. Retrieved April 25, 2017, from https://www.fda.gov/Food/GuidanceRegulation/GuidanceDocumentsRegulatoryInformation/LabelingNutrition/ucm385663.htm
Demeter U.S.A. Retrieved April 18, 2017, from http://www.demeter-usa.org/about-demeter/
Feder, B. J. (1991, December 02). Sugar Growers Seek Cleaner Image. Retrieved April 11, 2017, from http://www.nytimes.com/1991/12/03/business/sugar-growers-seek-cleaner-image.html?pagewanted=all
Florida Crystals. (n.d.). Retrieved April 11, 2017, from https://www.floridacrystals.com/
Johnston, J. (2007, December 30). The citizen-consumer hybrid: ideological tensions and the case of Whole Foods Market. Retrieved April 25, 2017, from https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11186-007-9058-5 Paull, John (2013) "Koberwitz (Kobierzyce); In the footseps of Rudolf Steiner'", Journal of Bio-Dynamics Tasmania, 109 (Autumn), pp. 7-11.
PenÌa, C. T. (2010). Empty Pleasures: The Story of Artificial Sweeteners from Saccharin to Splenda. University of North Carolina Press.
Prentice, C. (2016, June 01). U.S. impounds PureCircle stevia under new forced labor law. Retrieved April 20, 2017, from http://www.reuters.com/article/usa-stevia-imports-idUSL1N18T26J
Product Certification. (n.d.). Retrieved April 11, 2017, from https://carbonfund.org/product-certification/
Mintz, S. W. (1985). Sweetness and power: the place of sugar in modern history. New York: Penguin.
Walton, A. G. (2012, August 30). How Much Sugar Are Americans Eating? [Infographic]. Retrieved April 23, 2017, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/alicegwalton/2012/08/30/how-much-sugar-are-americans-eating-infographic/#3fcb60894ee7
Warner, D. J. (2011). Sweet stuff: an American history of sweeteners from sugar to sucralose. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press in cooperation with Rowman & Littlefield .
Whole Foods Market. (n.d.). Only at Whole Foods Market: Wholesome! Biodynamic Cane Sugar. Retrieved April 11, 2017, from http://media.wholefoodsmarket.com/news/only-at-whole-foods-market-wholesome-biodynamic-cane-sugar
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