The federal government’s war on sugar won’t sour efforts by the cherry industry to find a healthy future.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which after 30 years is changing the definition of “healthy” as allowed on food labels, has determined that dried cherries may continue to be labeled as healthy despite their sugar supplements. The new definition will go into effect in 2028.
“We’re thrilled and we applaud the FDA for working on this with us,” said Emily Miezio, a cherry. Grower and Suttons Bay Township resident who is chairwoman of the Cherry Marketing Institute and treasurer of the Michigan Cherry Committee. “We’ve had broad support from senators across the aisle, and we had many people who commented. It was a grassroots effort.”
Dried cherries, a staple among cherry aficionados for salads, cookies and trail mix, are a shining star in the universe of a changing cherry industry that has slipped as consumers bake less and consume fewer pies and pastries. Miezio said dried cherries, which resemble raisins with a signature tart taste, don’t quite represent half of the tart cherry market — “but they’re right up there.”
It was nearly a year ago at the Northwest Michigan Orchard and Vineyard Show that a warning sounded about FDA plans to update the definition of “healthy” when used in the promotion of foods. Overall, more than 400 comments pored into the FDA on the proposed changes, many from supporters of the cherry industry who were incredulous that their favorite fruit could be separated from a “healthy” descriptive.
Dried cherries were potential victims of a change in priorities for the FDA, which mostly ignored sugar content when visiting the subject in 1994. Instead, federal regulators shined a negative light on foods high in fat content. Recall that fat-free diets were all the rage.
With the change, according to a graphic published in the Wall Street Journal, salmon with their high fat content soon will qualify as “healthy” while trail mixes and yogurts with high sugar content won’t be allowed to use the label.
While the new rule states that products “are not deemed to be unhealthy or unable to provide any nutritional benefits to consumers if they don’t meet the new standards,” people in the cherry industry thought differently.
“I think it’s a step in the right direction for all our products,” said Glenn LaCross, a cherry grower from Centerville Township and owner of Leelanau Fruit Company, which processes tart cherries. “We’ve undertaken the work of proving and explaining the health benefi ts of cherries, so it would be a blow to the industry not to be able to promote them with the word ‘healthy.’” And a blow to the economy of Leelanau, which grows more tart and sweet cherries than any other county in the nation.
Scores of studies undertaken by universities and paid through fees cherry growers place on themselves have proven that Montmorency tart cherries contain a high level of beneficial antioxidants. Tart cherries have been shown to lower the risk of some cancers and heart disease, reduce sleep deprivation, boost exercise recovery and ward off gout.
Nate Chesher, CMI marketing director, applauded the decision.
“We’ve worked really hard on this on behalf of our cherry growers,” he said. “This would have posed a challenge to the industry, for sure, if we hadn’t worked so hard to overcome that ruling. A lot of people have worked on it for the last two years, not just CMI,” he said.
The FDA in retaining the healthy designation for dried cherries took to heart comments stating that while sugar was added to the final product, its sugar content did not surpass raisins that received no additional sugar.
“(Dried cherries) contain added sugars for palatability in an amount that is no greater than the amount of total sugars in comparable products …,” the rule states.
The industry has promoted the health benefits of tart cherries in an effort to boost consumption while railing about the impact on prices caused by imported fruit.
However, it’s been several years since growers crowed about profits because per-pound prices paid to them have rarely topped the study-proven cost of more than 40 cents per pound to grow tarts — and then only following low production seasons or even crop failure. Some growers are bulldozing tart cherry trees from orchard sites in Leelanau County.
