Facts about the Corn Refiners Association’s Petition to the FDA for the Alternate Name Corn Sugar

The Corn Refiners Association (CRA) has petitioned the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) asking that manufacturers have the option of using “corn sugar” as an alternate ingredient name for high fructose corn syrup on product labels because “corn sugar” more accurately describes the composition of the ingredient.

What You Can Do to Support CRA’s Petition

To submit a comment, go to http://www.regulations.gov/#!submitComment;D=FDA-2010-P-0491-0001.

Alternatively, comments can be mailed or delivered in person to:

Division of Dockets Management

Food and Drug Administration

5630 Fishers Lane, Room 1061

Rockville, MD 20852

To view the full petition, go to www.regulations.gov and search for the docket number FDA-2010-P-0491. The petition may also be accessed at this link:
http://www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;dct=FR+PR+N+O+SR;rpp=10;so=DESC;sb=postedDate;po=0;D=FDA-2010-P-0491

Reasons for the Petition

The CRA wants to clear up consumer confusion about high fructose corn syrup by requesting that the FDA give food and beverage manufacturers approval to call high fructose corn syrup what it is: corn sugar. Consumers want to know what is in their foods and to have ingredient names that are clearly understood. “Corn sugar” accomplishes these objectives succinctly and simply. Most importantly, the term corn sugar enables consumers to readily identify added sugars in the diet.

This FDA petition is an important and logical step in our efforts to clear up misinformation and consumer confusion about high fructose corn syrup. The name high fructose corn syrup continues to confuse consumers, even though our national educational campaign is working.

  • The name high fructose corn syrup is causing confusion, 70% of Americans (in an independent survey of American adults conducted according to the Office of Management and Budget guidelines) could not identify high fructose corn syrup when presented with the American Dietetic Association definition for it.
  • That same independent research demonstrated that ‘corn sugar’ is a better alternate name for high fructose corn syrup. Consumers better understand its fructose level, calories, and sweetness, when the term ‘corn sugar’ is substituted for high fructose corn syrup.View the full survey:
    High Fructose Corn Syrup Alternate Naming Study
  • ‘Corn sugar’ and table sugar have the same number of calories and are handled the same by the body. Credible, independent food, nutrition, and health experts agree that high fructose corn syrup is indistinguishable to the human body from table sugar (American Dietetic Association) and that these two sweeteners have a similar composition (American Medical Association).

www.corn.org/cornsugar