Why is Mercury in High Fructose Corn Syrup? – Ask The FDA

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The issue with High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) is not with the claim that it’s linked to obesity and diabetes, the issue is that HFCS is marketed as “natural” and “safe”. The process involved in manufacturing HFCS involves using a host of chemicals that have resulted in samples of HFCS testing positive for mercury contamination. You and I don’t consider mercury contamination natural and safe, but the FDA and its unwitting minions do.

To get an idea of just how jaded minds have become when differentiating between natural and artificial. Consider this statement by Slate’s Daniel Engber:

The major argument for designating HFCS as an artificial product relies on the long list of chemicals used to convert corn starch into fructose and glucose. (Two of those chemicals can transfer trace quantities of mercury into the finished product.) At least one part of the process makes incidental use of a toxic, synthetic fixing agent called glutaraldehyde. On that basis, consumers have repeatedly tried to sue soft-drink manufacturers for marketing HFCS-sweetened products as “all natural.”…The FDA, for its part, finally addressed the matter in mid-2008, ruling in favor of the corn refiners. According to the government, HFCS can be considered “natural” so long as the glutaraldehyde never comes into physical contact with the syrup.

Engber allows the FDA to redefine “natural”. In this case the FDA defines “natural” as the artificial combination of natural products using a host of chemicals and a toxic synthetic agent. I ask you, how can anyone consider that “natural”?

Folks, it’s real simple: for something to be natural it must exist in, or be produced by, nature. If HFCS were natural it would be growing on trees or in the ground as all other natural things do.

All this natural marketing hype is nothing but Orwellian Newspeak. Let’s be clear, the only natural source of sugar is contained within food itself, naturally, as in fruit and sugarcane, or the sap from maple trees. The sweetener extracted from all natural products is called fructose. Granulated sugar is refined. The more refined the sugar, the worse it is for your body.

“HFCS is just as ‘natural‘ as any other sweetener,” writes Engber, “at least according to the U.S. government.”

That’s a laugh. For Engber or anyone else to reference the FDA as a defining authoritative source on food safety is fantasy land. Consider the FDA’s long documented incompetence and repeated criminal collusion with irresponsible corporations whose only interest is profit. Look no further than the FDA cover-up of toxic melamine in US baby formula; the FDA withheld vital test results from the public, only releasing the results after the Associated Press filed a Freedom of Information Act.

Whose interests do you think the FDA serve? The FDA is as accountable for regulating the food and drug industry as the SEC is for regulating Madoff and Wall Street.

HealthDay News reported in January that “almost half of tested samples of commercial high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) contained mercury, which was also found in nearly a third of 55 popular brand-name food and beverage products where HFCS is the first- or second-highest labeled ingredient, according to two new U.S. studies.”

Mercury was not only found in HFCS samples taken directly from manufacturing sites, it has been found in products taken directly off grocery store shelves, and the FDA collected the samples in February of 2005.

“The samples were analyzed and a Report of Analysis was issued by National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in September of 2005. A report published by the Environmental Health Journal (EHJ) details the investigation“.

“Mercury is toxic in all its forms. Given how much high-fructose corn syrup is consumed by children, it could be a significant additional source of mercury never before considered. We are calling for immediate changes by industry and the [U.S. Food and Drug Administration] to help stop this avoidable mercury contamination of the food supply,” the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy’s Dr. David Wallinga, a co-author of both studies, said in a prepared statement.

Despite the Corn Refiners Association claim that the study is “based on outdated information of dubious significance”, the “Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, a non-profit watchdog group, “told the Minneapolis Star Tribune that four plants in Georgia, Tennessee, Ohio and West Virginia still use ‘mercury-cell‘ technology that can lead to contamination.”

IATP’s Environmental Health findings were based on information gathered by the FDA in 2005, yet in all this time the FDA has done absolutely NOTHING. According to the EHJ report the “FDA does not currently have a mercury surveillance program for food ingredients such as added sugars or preservatives manufactured with mercury grade chlor-alkali products.”

“Not only has…[the FDA] done nothing with this 3 ½ year old report,” writes Mark Rubi with the Examiner, “the FDA has even gone as far as ruling last year that foods containing HFCS can legally advertise themselves as being ‘natural‘.”

The only reason HFCS is used at all is because — as Michael Pollan points out — the development of HFCS allows cheap, subsidized corn to be converted into cheap, subsidized sugar. In other words, HFCS is used by food and beverage manufactures because it costs less. Who are you going to believe when it comes to determining whether HFCS is natural and safe, corporate America and their government yes men or non-profit consumer watchdog groups?

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