Not in My Food.org : Know what you're eating
The makers of high-fructose corn syrup (or ‘corn sugar’, as they’d have us call it) are scrambling around on the defense – and with good reason. First came the attacks from the American public, who began pointing a finger at the ubiquitous sweeter as the cause of our ever-increasing waistlines, accompanied by epidemic proportions of related diseases like diabetes. Companies from Starbucks to Hunts to Snapple began reformulating ingredient lists of their products to be ‘HFCS-free’ and ‘sweetened with natural sugar’ as consumers gravitated away from the corn-based sweetener equating it with unnatural, unwholesome, fattening food. Indeed, a 2008 poll found that 58% of people viewed high fructose corn syrup as a “health hazard”.
But the corn syrup industry fought back, launching a massive ad campaign to correct the ‘misinformation’ and claiming no difference between their product and natural sugar. Finally deciding it was an issue of rebranding, the Corn Refiners Association (the industry group representing corn syrup makers) petitioned the FDA for a name change, hoping that Americans would find ‘corn sugar’ more palatable than ‘high-fructose corn syrup’.
Although the FDA has yet to issue a decision on the name change, the industry moved ahead touting the new ‘corn sugar’ name through another ad campaign – thus drawing a backlash from the sugar industry. In a lawsuit currently under consideration , beet and cane sugar companies claim false advertising by corn refiners and accuse them of “seeking to co-opt the goodwill of ‘sugar’ and even changing the [high-fructose corn syrup] name by calling it a kind of sugar.”
The proposed name change is catching flack from more than just the sugar industry. According to the Huffington Post: “ More than 100 citizens and consumer groups have written to the FDA as it weighs the name change, many of them slamming the rebranding as a cynical attempt to confuse customers who may be wary of high fructose corn syrup.”
Consumers Union is among the groups that submitted comments to the FDA urging them to reject the name change request based on the grounds that it would mislead consumers, making it more confusing for those who wish to avoid corn syrup. Furthermore, CU refutes industry claims that ‘corn sugar’ is simply extracted sugar that occurs naturally in corn when in fact “there are several chemical processing steps required, with consequent chemical changes that are not reflected in the term ‘corn sugar.”
In the meantime, the corn sugar ad campaign has drawn the ire of the FDA, which issued a warning to the corn industry to quit using the new name until it has official approval from the agency, which may take another year. So far, however, few changes appear to be made in the ads acknowledging the FDA’s request.
Expect to see this issue continue to play out in the media, be it for the details of the court case between the corn and sugar industries, or for news on the FDA’s decision on the name change. But whether it’s called sugar, corn sugar or high fructose corn syrup, perhaps it’s best summed up by Marion Nestle over at FoodPolitics.com:
Changing the name of HFCS to corn sugar is about marketing, not public health. If the FDA decides to approve the change, it will not alter the fact that about 60 pounds each of HFCS and table sugar are available per capita per year, and that Americans would be a lot healthier consuming a lot less of either one.
Giving up high fructose corn syrup is the first step in a healthier life. Since HFCS lurks in most of fast, processed, non-nutritious foods, starting with just that one synthetic ingredient would eliminate most of the unhealthier, fattening, sickening, addictive foods. Eating at most fast food establishments would have to end–and health would really start to improve.
Does Audrae Erickson, along with her fellow lobbyists, personally consume that artificial red drink (from the corn syrup commercials) and feed it to their children? They do not answer–why? Or do they want Americans to continue to be their fast food slaves?
To easily give it up, just imagine worms, maggots, and roaches crawling in or all over the food–or swimming in the soda. (Actually, consuming those vermin would be healthier than the HFCS laced fast foods and drinks). Use your imagination to free yourself from fast food/drink slavery. The sounds of the coins going into soda machines are the clinking chains of fast food bondage. It’s time for Americans to choose to be free to live healthier, happier lives.
We must love our children enough to feed them real food.
HERE HERE, WENDY! Very eloquent about the state of nutrition and corporate control (that is not always benevolent) over much of what people eat, or at least what is marketed to them! I could not have said it better, but I WILL try to add to it some!! People do not (always)realize that what we consume and what we PURCHASE (food included) are two of the most direct and POLITICAL decisions we can MAKE, and can effect CHANGE if done CONSCIOUSLY!! They don’t see that the congealed, conglomerates of chemicals & food-like ingredients that often come in WASTEFUL PACKAGING MADE FROM NON-BIODEGRADABLE PETRO-CHEMS do NOTHING for our health and harm our environment, as many won’t even recycle the packages. The food travels thousand of miles, creating more carbon usage. This stuff is ALSO grown by the HUGE monoculture corp-farms that are also bad for the ecosystem and it’s biodiversity. Yet the average SMALL farmer can barely eke out a LIVING, and often CANNOT! Dairys are disappearing at an alarming rate. Let food be a CHOICE, and a GOOD one! No WASTEFUL PACKAGING that contain more plastic than product, but greater profits & more for the landfills! Buy food that is FRESH, and preferably grown nearby! It helps the local economy, local farmers, your health and choking landfills, as well as uses less fossil fuels! REMEMBER- LIVE FOOD FOR LIVE PEOPLE!
Would like to eat better.
Unfortunately in this oligarchy the middle class are the ones having to cut back on decent food.
The poor get handouts so they dont have to worrie. The rich can eat good of course.
Middle class? No unions? This is what will happen..
In regards to the comment “the poor get handouts” – I think you might like to educate yourself a bit more as to what “the poor” actually get. A couple of years ago, I looked into the WIC program out of curiousity and learned that although the government does provide some specific categories of food items (in the form of vouchers), in the fine print it explicitly states that you are not allowed to purchase organic food. Too expensive.
And have you checked out the school lunch programs? The poor qualilfy for free breakfast and lunch. And what they get is highly processed crap loaded with unnatural sweetners and trans fats.
I know I’m going off topic a bit here, but I think what a government/country chooses to feed its poor and vulnerable populations reflects both a dismissal of what constitutes proper nutrition, and a complete lack of concern for the health and well being of its citizenry.
As far as HFCS goes, seven years ago I began to make a game of trying to buy food that lacked HFCS as an ingrdient and wound up consistently in the organic aisle ever since. I agree with an earlier poster, if HFCS is an ingredient, then most likely there is a bunch of other crap in there too that’s equally bad for you.
The late Jack La Lanne always said that if you want to live a long and healthy life, make every meal from scratch. People just need to wake up and reprioritize their budgets and time.