Forgive me, but I am going to rant a little here… Yesterday, the New York Times reported (also picked up by CNN) that the Corn Refiners Association petitioned the United States FDA to “officially” re-label high-fructose corn syrup as “corn sugar.” Thinking that the name change will improve the image of the “much maligned sweetener.” Yeah, and Stalin was a cute teddy bear with a heart of gold… Oh! Corn Sugar, well that is a different story, pour some more of that on my snowcone! Mmmm, coffee with Corn Sugar is just like coffee with REAL sugar… Fvck that.
What I really like is the new TV commercial ad campaign (Laurel told me about it this morning and I spent lunch watching the ads and parodies on YouTube) promoting HFCS as a “natural ingredient” made from corn. HFCS is NOT a natural substance. It does not occur in nature. That is like saying Einsteinium or Americium are natural substances. Fvcking lobbyists. Apparently, according to the ads, it is fine to consume in moderation. Hell, I can ingest Arsenic in moderation as long as I know what that quantity is. What is the correct daily consumption amount for corn syrup? How do you calculate it?
HFCS is in everything from bread to lunch meat, coke, the honey at KFC, and something like 9 out of 10 prepackaged foods found on your grocer’s shelves. Americans are fat. HFCS is in everything… Brits and Germans are getting fat and HFCS is quickly gaining ground in their packaged food. This is not differential calculus – it is simple math: HFCS+you=lard ass. Changing the name will not make us any less fat. I quote from an industry source:
“The ingredient is a favorite of food makers for practical reasons. Compared with sucrose, high-fructose corn syrup doesn’t mask flavors, has a lower freezing point and retains moisture better, which is useful in making foods like chewy granola bars. And because the corn crop in the United States is heavily subsidized, high-fructose corn syrup is also cheap. As a result, it’s now used in so many foods, from crackers to soft drinks, that it has become one of the biggest sources of calories in the American diet.”
Cheap, easy to use, & government subsidized… There is a lot more wrong here than just a product with a bad image in need of a name change!
Amazing how our nation works. It’s all for the profit and the FDA which doesn’t really have our interests at heart will try to figure out a way to sneak the change passed us.
You kind of touched on it, not just HFCS but corn is in just about everything we consume including meat…
I am not one to point a stick haphazardly and blame the “government” – I blame strong industry lobbies and the millions of dollars that make it possible for them to insert their policies and wants into our governmental decisions. Those entities have too much push with the FDA, EPA , etc. and their constant badgering coupled with very little governmental oversight harms us all.
In all honesty I am an omnivore (heavy on the carnivore scale) and I love me a good steak. However, I will agree that they way that our system has made delivering meat to our table a solely industrial process is broken. Broiler houses are sickening, corn finishing operations and the use of massive doses of antibiotics is scary, industrial dairies are perverse, and even salmon farms are environmentally devastating. Buy local meat, from a local butcher/fish monger, who deals with local ranchers, fishermen and farmers. It is more expensive, but worth it on so many levels. Raise some of your own veggies, plant a fruit tree, raise a couple of chickens and read You Too Can Farm , Grass Fed Cattle , and Chicken Tractor. That in my 2 cents anyway.
HFCS is nasty stuff. How exactly do you FARM salmon? was that a typo?
There are salmon corals in the Pacific NW and in Chile. The term “farmed” could be misleading.
Thanks for the reply. I’m with you at not “blaming” the government.
But as you alluded to companies like ‘Monsanto’ have to much influence.
It may not be quite as bad as the revolving door between the FDA and CEOs of drug companies but it’s definitely a clear obstacle to our health.
I agree. The lack of independent oversight is scary.
Yes and Thank You! Those ads are sickening and quite frankly offend me. They treat us as if we’re too stupid to know the difference. Sadly, they’re probably right about a certain portion of the population. I personally feel the makers of these fattening food additives should shoulder burden of the obese on our health system. Required to provide education on eating well, like the tobacco industry must do for smoking. Possibly a fat tax?