14 September 2010

This is Called Polishing a Turd*

The corn syrup industry has applied to the FDA to be able to call its high fructose corn syrup "corn sugar":
The Corn Refiners Association, which represents firms that make the 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.
I have seen other similar things, the rebranding of prunes as dried plums, for example, but in the case of corn syrup, where we have an an industry producing a product that produces a product that generates significant about its safety, as opposed to a product like prunes whose use as a regularity aid has made it the butt of jokes.

I don't approve, but I do not see a place to comment on the FDA's web site.

*Yes, I am aware that the Mythbusters did in fact polish turds using a Japanese technique called Dorodango, but we are referring to the cliche, not reality.
Pun not intended.

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