See this? It's a tiny violin playing a sad song for high fructose corn syrup manufacturers. They've been taking it on the chin lately, from a "not-food" label in Michael Pollan's latest book to skyrocketing corn prices thanks to ethanol. People are finally reading labels and trying to avoid HFCS products (a well-nigh impossible task) and processed food companies are getting a little corn-shy. Awww, poor corn refiners.
To help their image and give the industry some cred, the Corn Refiners Association has launched a $30-million multimedia ad campaign touting the syrup's humble origins, comparing it to sugar and honey in ads featuring golden corn cobs nestled in bright green leaves. The manufactured sweetener comes from corn, so, in that respect, yes it's natural. But, as the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) stated in response to the ads, "High fructose corn syrup just doesn't exist in nature."
Most of the ads will be targeted at magazines read by your mom, the person who buys the food and has developed some vague ideas about the health effects of HFCS. And, just to cover both sides of the issue, the CSPI calls those ideas "one of those urban myths that sounds right, but is basically wrong." HFCS is bad but not any worse than most other sweeteners.
Want to really help your image, corn refiners? Change your name. Any food that has to be refined like petroleum is never going to sound especially natural. Cornhuskers is taken. Maybe Cornholers Association?
This article appears in Jul 2-8, 2008.