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September 16, 2011

Move to Change High Fructose Corn Syrup Naming to Corn Syrup Not That Sweet

I have written about the move to have high fructose corn syrup referred to as "corn sugar" by producers before.

There is an obvious reason for this - "corn sugar" looks a lot more appetizing then "high fructose corn syrup."

Now, it seems the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has warned the corn industry to stop using the term until it gets regulatory approval.

This is bad news for the corn industry, who wants to distance itself from the "high fructose corn syrup" name due to the fact that scientists have linked the product to obesity, diabetes and a slew of other health issues.

The Corn Refiners Association has already been using the term "corn sugar" on TV and on two websites - cornsugar.com and sweetsurprise.com. The problem here is that The Corn Refiners Association is not selling a product, but rather an industry.

The FDA can and will go after companies that misrepresent or mislabel ingredients and products, and will indeed go after companies that call high fructose corn syrup "corn sugar." Of course, beet and cane sugar producers are up in arms about this.

One FDA representative says, "It would be affirmatively misleading to change the name of the ingredient after all this time, especially in light of the controversy surrounding it... If we allow it, we will rightly be mocked both on the substance of the outcome and the process through which it was achieved."

The problem here is that obesity is a growing concern in the US. Thus, the naming of sweeteners in general is an extremely sensitive issue. The corn producers know this and have created advertisements that are meant to ease our fears.

I, of course, am not a nutrition expert. However, the product seems to be coming out of a pretty bad pedigree. At one point it was called "Frankenfood" because it is not a natural product.

The received wisdom in this is that this product is simply not great for you but for that matter cane sugar is also not recommended.

We do not need any more prompting.

Technorati Tags: High Fructose Corn Syrup, Corn Sugar, Corn Sugar Naming, Naming, Branding

Posted by William Lozito at September 16, 2011 8:17 AM
Posted to Beverages | Food | Naming

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