SEATTLE -- Tuesday is the deadline for public comment on a petition by the dairy industry to the Food and Drug Administration which would allow companies to add artificial sweeteners in flavored milk.
Milk producers are petitioning the FDA to allow them to use zero-calorie sweeteners like Aspartame and Saccharin -- ingredients used in drinks like diet sodas.
Dairy companies say it gives them another option other than sugar to reduce the calories and carbohydrates in chocolate and other flavors of milk.
There are two misconceptions. One is that we re going to try making milk sweeter and adding sweetener to white milk and we re not doing that. We re only trying to lower the calories. The other misconception is that the particular sweetener will not be on the label. That s absolutely not true. It will always be on the label, said Peggy Armstrong, with the International Dairy Foods Association, which filed the petition along with National Milk Producers Federation.
Dieticians are strongly against adding artificial sweeteners to flavored milk and have an issue with adding a sweet taste to get kids to drink milk.
