Since I’ve been to the US twice in the last couple of years, one of the things I’ve noticed is the apparent increasing rejection of High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS). A year ago, it was astonishing. Everything, just absolutely everything was full of HFCS, and excruciatingly sweet.
There’s little doubt, I wasn’t the only one who noticed this. Friends and family noticed too, and when I was back last November it was clear there was increasing demand for products that didn’t contain HFCS. Soft drinks are becoming available, and more and more other products, that are just made with normal sugar. This almost certainly was connected with the world wide shortages of cane and beet sugar over the last year or so.
Where did it go?
If Americans aren’t eating HFCS anymore, it must have gone somewhere.
It’s pretty clear Europe is at least one of the recipients of the surplus. They don’t call it by the same name here. It’s usually called something like ‘glucose syrup’ or ‘glucose-fructose syrup’. It seems to go under a number of names. These are in a lot of foods and beverages here by now. I especially notice it in a lot of beers and sweet alcoholic drinks marketed towards young people. It’s also in many processed foods.
It does not seem to have any so-called European E-numbers associated with it, I guess because it’s not an additive but rather a foodstuff. For those of you reading this who aren’t in Europe, because of the number of different languages here, and because it helps the food industry hide what they add to food, they have created a special coding system for food additives. I would have to think about the the politics of it not having an E number a little more, but I guess consumers are more reluctant to buy E-numbers now, and perhaps it was an issue to get HFCS certified as a safe food additive.
What’s wrong with it?
Besides many people disliking the taste, HFCS is associated with many health problems. It’s use as a food additive in the US corresponds almost exactly to the increase of obesity and related health problems we’ve seen in recent decades. It’s associated with diabetes, gout and many other health problems.
If you’re trying to avoid eating GM foods, you should avoid this too. It’s not necessarily made with GM corn, but often is. According to Monsanto and other large food companies, processing will remove GMOs from this product. That means, even though it may be made from GM corn, it is legal for sale as a food in Europe. There hasn’t been any independent confirmation of food industry claims that GMOs are removed, and many people dispute it. Nevertheless, it is legal for sale in Europe, GM or not. There is also no requirement to label it as a GM food.
