FDA: It’s corn syrup, now shut up and own it

[n2doc]

BY JESS ZIMMERMAN
16 SEP 2011 3:23 PM
The Corn Refiners Association has noticed that "corn syrup" is becoming kind of a dirty word. They could improve the product, perhaps, but that would be hard, so they decided to just rename it "corn sugar." But the FDA, which is in charge of things like what counts as "sugar," is having none of it.

So far, the FDA hasn't yet ruled on whether HFCS can be called "sugar," but in the meantime the corn refiners decided to just go ahead and do it because it sounded good. They've been comparing corn syrup to sugar in all their ads, despite the fact that the FDA is still checking out their claims that the two are sufficiently similar. The FDA asked them to quit it, but they said "nyahhhhh."

In a July 12 letter obtained by the AP, Barbara Schneeman, an FDA director, wrote to the Corn Refiners Association to say she was concerned with the trade group using the terms high fructose corn syrup and "corn sugar" interchangeably.

"We request that you re-examine your websites and modify statements that use the term `corn sugar' as a synonym for (high fructose corn syrup)," Schneeman wrote.

As of Thursday, two months after the letter was sent, none of that wording had been changed.

Not only is this potentially misleading, but there already is a thing called corn sugar. So this name change is unlikely to get approved -- the FDA doesn't even want to let them drop the "high fructose" and just be known as "corn syrup." But that hasn't stopped the Corn Refiners Association, which is clearly pretty convinced that a rose by any other name won't f*cking kill you.


http://www.grist.org/list#item-2011-09-16-fda-its-corn-syrup-now-shut-up-and-own-it

[Pisces]

1. I've seen these stupid commercials and it is sickening.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

26. Right up there with the fracking is safe commercials

[Ruby the Liberal]

2. Request?

They are the FDA. Why are they "requesting" and not filing deception charges?

[Shagbark Hickory]

15. +!

[robinlynne]

27. Thank-you.

[supernova]

3. I've stayed away from all forms

of processed foods, and therefore sugar for several years now and feel much better. No matter what they call it, I will always bee a fanatic about label reading and will refuse to buy it.

[dixiegrrrrl]

5. Good on you. I hear more and more people are taking responsibility to think about foods they buy.

Some years ago, my teenage step daughter, who was staying for a week with her dad, was unhappily looking through our cupboards for something to eat and complained " all you have in here is ingredients"

Yep....from the whole food store, no less.

[supernova]

14. lol

Wouldn't want to take the tome to put those "ingredients" together, now would she? :D

[dixiegrrrrl]

21. Let's just say...I did not raise her, someone else did.

sigh...

[aquart]

4. No, it isn't corn syrup. It's high fructose corn syrup.

Corn syrup that has been treated to make it sweeter.

People aren't yelling about corn syrup. The complaint is about HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP. You don't help when you confuse two different things.

[valerief]

8. As I understand it, it goes through a complex process with all kinds of chemicals added.

Sounds like foodstuff, not food.

I haven't eaten the crap for years.

[shanti]

16. it's certainly not "natural"

and causes dis-ease, imo.

[Shagbark Hickory]

17. They could make it more appealing but calling it "Lower Fructose, All natural corn syrup" & using

green packaging with big numbers on the front that don't really mean anything.

[lonestarnot]

6. high fructose corn syrup. gag.

[Curmudgeoness]

7. Two months later, nothing has changed. WTF.

If there are no consequences to saying "fuck you" to the FDA, I don't suppose that I would listen to them either.

Grow a pair, FDA!

[YellowRubberDuckie]

13. Our government needs to grow a pair when it comes to just about everything.

They cow tow to just about anyone with a lobby these days. And you might as well forget about enforcing something when it comes to a corporation. Their fascist fathers will not allow it!

[Curmudgeoness]

20. That is just what we need----a lobby.

Why didn't we think of that before? I'm sad that it has come to this, but we need a People Lobby. I like your thinking.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

23. Totally not what I was saying.

But OK? :shrug:

[blogslut]

9. Slightly off topic but

Anybody into http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panela">Piloncillo? For years I wondered what those brown cones were sitting on the shelves in the grocery store. When I found out they were dried, delicious unrefined sugar cane I was thrilled!

I shave some with a grater and add it to my coffee. Yummy!

[no_hypocrisy]

10. While I find this product disgusting, I respect the clear labeling.

At the hispanic supermarket where I shop, they sell a drink called "Purple Fructose Drink". While I can't find any redeeming quality to this product, at least you know up front what you're getting into.

[n2doc]

12. It's funny- At the high end boutique market near my work

They sell "Mexican Coca-cola- made with real sugar!" at a premium. Maybe our southern neighbors know something we don't?

[Ruby the Liberal]

19. It isn't just Mexico

Any non-diet Coke product you buy outside of the US is made with sugar.

Look up the BFEE connections to the sugar cane industry and you will know why. NOT a conspiracy theory either - and the main reason we are BFF with China yet still shun Cuba for being "communist". Its sickening.

[Aristus]

11. I've been telling this to all of my patients with Diabetes, or who are at risk.

I tell them to avoid HFCS, and also that the Corn Lobby is trying to deceive consumers with this whole "corn sugar" bullshit. The Corn Lobby can do fuck-all if they want. I'm educating the public about their deadly deceit, one at-risk patient at a time.

And unlike Rick Perry, I can't be bought. The Corn Lobby can blow me if they want, but I'm not going to stop educating my patients...

(Wish we still had the 'middle finger' emoticon, so I could flip off those assholes...)

[Shagbark Hickory]

18. well, there's always this...

..|..

or this

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..........''...\.......... _.·´
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..............\.............\...

[dixiegrrrrl]

22. Here..borrow mine:

[Warren DeMontague]

24. i like how they say "it"s confusing people"

Yes, knowing WHAT YOUR PRODUCT ACTUALLY IS is too 'confusing'. :eyes:

[vanboggie]

25. Don't expect much from the FDA

They've been poisoning people with aspartame since the week Reagan took office and Rumsfeld got to fire the FDA chief who had been blocking approval of that dangerous poison. Artificial sweeteners attack the central nervous system and mess with blood sugar levels. I'd say that since the FDA condones them, they don't give a damn whether or not we ingest high fructose corn syrup by any name the manufacturers choose. The FDA is bought and paid for like our politicians. We're on our own when it comes to food consumption.

My husband is diabetic. We don't bring anything with artificial sweeteners into our house after years of medical problems he suffered from aspartame consumption.
We did try a sugar cane soda not long ago. It was amazing how much better it tasted. It actually quenched your thirst. We tried it, we liked it, and it didn't mess up hubby's blood sugar readings. We are back to drinking plain water now, but the short foray into sugar cane soft drinks reminded us of the soda we drank in our youth.

Sadly the food supply in this country is now so infused with this crap that it is getting so you have to make everything from scratch or eat lethal garbage that the corporations and government tell us is safe. Yuck.

Don't put an iota of trust into the FDA's oversight. Corporations always win. We always lose.