MIDDLEBURY, Vt.—Sugarmakers are not out of the woods on the controversial added sugar issue.

The U.S. Food & Drug Administration is still deliberating new nutritional labels for pure maple syrup.

While the labels will not specifically force sugarmakers to make a false claim that the product somehow has ‘added sugars’ as originally proposed last year, the label still may state that syrup will be an added sugar to the amount of recommended sugar intake in consumers’ total diet.

The label will likely carry an obelisk symbol which will refer the consumer to a footnote which in turn would could state maple syrup is an “added sugar” beyond the recommended daily value of sugar in a total daily diet.

“We still do not know what the language of the footnote is going to be,” said Pam Green, president of the International Maple Syrup Institute which is lobbying on the issue in Washington, D.C.

Green said her group continues to look for suitable language that will be acceptable and does not contain the words ‘added sugar’ which would be confusing to the consumer.

“We do not want to give the consumer the impression that there is added sugar,” she said.

"We are still engaged with the FDA on the matter of the footnote wording and our objective to get additional guidance in the form of pre-approved wording of the footnote precluding the phrase “added sugar,'" said Jean Lamontagne, executive director of the IMSI.