Is allulose sugar?

Yes. Allulose is chemically a sugar. It is a monosaccharide.

And in Franco v. Chobani, the Seventh Circuit held that allulose is a sugar under the federal regulation it was interpreting.

But that does not mean allulose is treated identically to table sugar on every part of a food label.

FDA currently allows manufacturers to exclude allulose from the amounts declared as Total Sugars and Added Sugars on the Nutrition Facts panel under an enforcement-discretion policy.

That is why the answer is both simple and legally important:

Allulose is a sugar, but federal labeling policy gives it different treatment in some contexts.

What does the regulation say?

21 C.F.R. § 101.9(c)(6)(ii) defines Total Sugars as the sum of all free mono- and disaccharides.

Allulose is a monosaccharide.

In Franco, the Seventh Circuit treated that text as controlling for the issue before it.

The court concluded that allulose falls within the definition.

Why does FDA let companies exclude it from Total Sugars?

FDA's 2020 allulose guidance announces an enforcement-discretion policy.

The agency says manufacturers may exclude allulose from the amount declared as Total Sugars and Added Sugars because allulose is metabolized differently from traditional sugars.

The guidance also permits a 0.4 calorie-per-gram value for nutrition-label calorie calculations.

But FDA did not rewrite the regulation's structural definition before Franco was decided.

The Seventh Circuit emphasized that distinction.

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Regulation and guidance are doing different jobs

The regulation

The regulation defines Total Sugars by chemical structure.

FDA guidance

The guidance tells manufacturers how FDA currently intends to exercise enforcement discretion for allulose.

The lawsuits

Plaintiffs argue that the Nutrition Facts enforcement policy does not automatically authorize every separate front-of-package statement such as "Zero Sugar."

Defendants can argue that the label as a whole, FDA policy, preemption and consumer understanding support their position.

The answer can depend on the exact claim and case.

Is allulose the same as table sugar?

No.

The fact that both are sugars does not make them physiologically identical.

Is allulose an added sugar?

The answer depends on what question is being asked.

The regulation governing Added Sugars and the separate nutrient-content rules for "No Added Sugar" claims involve additional considerations.

FDA's allulose guidance currently permits allulose to be excluded from the Added Sugars declaration under enforcement discretion.

Separately, claims such as "No Added Sugar" are governed by 21 C.F.R. § 101.60(c)(2).

That is why a case about "Zero Added Sugar" is not automatically the same as Franco.

What has happened since Franco?

The allulose issue is no longer confined to one yogurt case.

We track 58 verified or cross-checked cases across 27 brands and 12 federal districts.

The normalized claim data includes litigation over:

• Zero Sugar;
• Sugar Free;
• 0g Sugar;
• Zero Added Sugar;
• No Added Sugar;
• No Sugar Added;
• 0g Added Sugar;
• 0g Total Sugars.

The spread of lawsuits does not prove the plaintiffs' theory is correct in every case. It shows that the regulatory question is being tested across many products and jurisdictions.

Does Franco apply nationwide?

The Seventh Circuit covers Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin.

Its decisions bind federal district courts within that circuit on the federal-law issues decided.

Federal courts elsewhere may treat the decision as persuasive authority, but they are not bound by the Seventh Circuit in the same way.

That geographic distinction is important because the verified cases span 6 federal circuits.

Bottom line

If the question is:

Is allulose chemically a sugar?

Yes.

If the question is:

Can FDA allow allulose to be excluded from Total Sugars and Added Sugars on the Nutrition Facts panel?

FDA's current enforcement policy says yes.

If the question is:

Can every allulose-containing product legally say "Zero Sugar"?

That is not resolved by a one-line answer. It depends on the exact label, regulation, jurisdiction and procedural posture, and it is the issue now being litigated in dozens of cases.

Sources cited in this guide (4)

• 21 C.F.R. § 101.9
• 21 C.F.R. § 101.60
• FDA allulose guidance
• Franco v. Chobani, LLC