Does gum acacia count as fiber? The FDA will soon decide.
The FDA is assessing whether 26 ingredients count as fiber on nutrition facts labels. “If you're a nutrition-label reader, the list includes some familiar-ish sounding ingredients — such as inulin, which is often sourced from chicory root,” says NPR. “Other ingredients on the 'do-these-count-as-fiber?' list include gum acacia, bamboo fiber, retrograded corn starch, and — get ready for the tongue-twister — xylooligosaccharides. Some of these fibers are extracted from plant sources, while others are synthetic.”
China heads for smallest share of world cotton stocks in six years
After accumulating the largest cotton surplus in the world — more than double its annual crop — China is steadily disposing of its state-held stockpile. The government is scheduled to begin daily auctions of cotton from its reserves on Monday and the International Cotton Advisory Committee says that a successful season would reduce China's share of the world stockpile to 45 percent by the end of 2017/18 — the first time in six years that China holds less than half of the world surplus.