HFCS ad campaign accused of deception

The Corn Refiners Association's is recent attempt to boost the image of the high fructose corn syrup has attracted criticism.

The CRA, a national trade association representing the corn refining (wet milling) industry of the United States, launched an advertising and public relations campaign to address the "many myths, inaccuracies and untruths associated with the sweetener", which have been linked to obesity.

Now the Center for Science in the Public Interest wants the association to change some of the text used in the campaign which claims that high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) "has the same natural sweeteners as table sugar".

CSPI's executive director Michael F Jacobson says the text is deceptive because HFCS consists almost entirely of glucose and fructose and not a single molecule of sucrose. "Sugar is 100 percent sucrose. It is true that adding a water molecule to sucrose and splitting it in half yields one molecule each of glucose and fructose, but that is not the same as saying that HFCS and sugar contain the same sweeteners.

"It is also deceptive to imply that HFCS is natural. HFCS starts out as cornstarch, which is chemically or enzymatically degraded to glucose (and some short polymers of glucose). Another enzyme is then used to convert varying fractions of glucose into fructose.

"High fructose corn syrup just doesn't exist in nature."

HFCS is commonly used in soft drinks and processed foods and has been associated with rising obesity levels.

Steve - with the windfall of cash the Corn Refiners Association has gained from exorbitant corn prices, as we suspected, they are fighting back to regain high fructose corn syrup place at the table. They may be too late. The HFCS ship has sailed and hopefully will not be returning to port!