Sweet victory for advocates: ‘Corn Sugar’ rejected by FDA – National Consumers League

Consumer advocates are claiming a victory today, as the Food and Drug Administration has rejected a bid by the Corn Refiners Association (CRA) to change the name of High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) to “corn sugar.”

“This is an important victory as it upholds the principle of ‘truth in labeling’ for consumers,” said Sally Greenberg, Executive Director of the National Consumers League. “We applaud the FDA for acting as the ‘cop on the beat’ to ensure consumers aren’t misled by changing the name of High Fructose Corn Syrup to something it is not.”

Consumer groups signed a letter to FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg in April asking that the agency reject the anti-consumer name change.

The consumer letter called on the agency to “promptly deny” the CRA petition for the name change and noted that the FDA had received “nearly 5,000 comments submitted to the agency opposing the name change on a ratio of 100:1.” The groups urged the agency to act quickly because “FDA’s failure to promptly deny the CRA petition allows the trade association to continue to run deceptive marketing campaigns calling HFCS ‘corn sugar’ and confuses consumers who wish to avoid the ingredient.”