Businesses to take action against High-Fructose Corn Syrup.
People are now looking for HFCS in the list of ingredients and not buying products containing it (rice vinegar, for example).
Businesses, in my experience, will always take more or less the same step when confronted with a serious problem—characterized metaphorically by the needle going into the red zone. Businesses, in seeing that, will universally solve the problem by bending the needle so that it still points to green.
So, given the public displeasure with HFCS, what will businesses do? Find a new name, of course. Tara Parker-Pope writes in the NY Times (and thanks to TYD for pointing out the article):
The Corn Refiners Association, which represents firms that make high-fructose corn syrup, has been trying to improve the image of the much maligned sweetener with ad campaigns promoting it as a natural ingredient made from corn. Now, the group has petitioned the United States Food and Drug Administration to start calling the ingredient “corn sugar,” arguing that a name change is the only way to clear up consumer confusion about the product.
“Clearly the name is confusing consumers,” said Audrae Erickson, president of the Washington-based group, in an interview. “Research shows that ‘corn sugar’ better communicates the amount of calories, the level of fructose and the sweetness in this ingredient.”
According to the market research firm NPD Group, about 58 percent of Americans say they are concerned that high-fructose corn syrup poses a health risk.
Some scientists over the years have speculated that high-fructose corn syrup may contribute to obesity by somehow disrupting normal metabolic function,but the research has been inconclusive. As a result, most leading scientists and nutrition experts agree that in terms of health, the effect of high-fructose corn syrup is the same as regular sugar, and that too much of either ingredient is bad for your health.
Marion Nestle, a professor in New York University’s department of nutrition and a longtime food industry critic, says that Americans consume too much of all types of sugar, but that there is no meaningful biochemical difference between table sugar and high-fructose corn syrup…
I don’t think businesses really have a problem with any dangers HFCS might pose—businesses want to sell product, and they don’t really care whether it’s healthful or not. (Look at how they are fighting against giving up bisphenol-A.) What businesses probably dislike is that consumers are now reading the list of ingredients and making decisions on that. Businesses fought long and hard against letting consumers know the ingredients of food products, and some businesses still will not release that information. But most foods now list ingredients, and I’m sure consumers are surprised at finding how sugar (whether HFCS or other sugar) is added to virtually every product—like salt.
