[Mariner]

“because research had shown that people who were avoiding added sugar did not consistently recognize phrases like this”

People who are avoiding added sugar don’t eat jelly beans.

[jjsheridan5]

People who are avoiding added sugar don’t eat jelly beans.

I think you would be surprised at how varied dietary approaches are. There are plenty of people out there who will not consume free sugars, but will eat sweet foods, as long as the sugars are still wrapped up in cellular or fibrous material. To make a long story short, if someone came out with a jelly bean that contained only sugars that were still in their natural form, albeit concentrated, then that jelly bean would have a market. The problem for those types of people is that manufacturers are very deceptive, in how they hide "free" sugars (sugars that are no longer part of a plant's material). So no, I don't agree. People who avoid added refined sugar are quite fond of candy. Just not candy that contains refined sugar.

But all of this is tangential to the main question: what possible reason was there to use the ambiguous term "evaporated cane juice", rather than the more commonly known word "sugar", other than to deceive? There is simply no logical explanation for that decision, other than deception.