High fructose corn syrup by any name

Published 7:07 pm Tuesday, September 14, 2010

The makers of high fructose corn syrup want to sweeten up its image with a new name: corn sugar.

The bid to rename the sweetener by the Corn Refiners Association comes as concerns about health and obesity have sent consumption of high fructose corn syrup, used in soft drinks but also in bread, cereal and other foods, to a 20-year low.

The group applied Tuesday to the Food and Drug Administration to get the “corn sugar” name approved for use on food labels. Approval of the new name could take two years, but that’s not stopping the industry from using the term now in advertising. There’s a new online marketing campaign at www.cornsugar.com and on television.

Renaming products has succeeded before. For example, low eurcic acid rapeseed oil became much more popular after becoming “canola oil” in 1988. Prunes tried to shed a stodgy image by becoming “dried plums” in 2000.

Associated Press