FDA Rejects “Corn Sugar” Petition
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has rejected a Corn Refiners Association (CRA) petition urging the authorization of “corn sugar” as an alternate name for high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS). According to FDA’s May 30, 2012, response, CRA had asked the agency (i) “to amend the generally recognized as safe (GRAS) affirmation regulation for HFCS (21 CFR 168.11) to designate ‘corn sugar’ as an optional name for HFCS”; (ii) “to eliminate ‘corn sugar’ as an alternate name for dextrose”; and (iii) “to replace all references to ‘corn sugar’ with ‘dextrose’” in the GRAS regulations for corn sugar (21 CFR 184.1857). The trade association had apparently argued, among other things, that consumers confused by the name “high-fructose corn syrup” “incorrectly believe that HFCS is significantly higher in calories, fructose and sweetness than sugar.”
In rejecting the petition, FDA countered that its regulations define sugar as
“a solid, dried, and crystallized food; whereas syrup is an aqueous solution or
liquid food… Thus, the use of the term ‘sugar’ to describe HFCS, a product that
is a syrup, would not accurately identify or describe the basic nature of the
food or its characterizing properties.” The agency also declined to amend the
GRAS status for dextrose, noting that “corn sugar” “has been used to describe
dextrose for over 30 years” in both scientific literature and public discourse. As
a result, warned FDA, changing “HFCS” to “corn sugar” could put consumers
with hereditary fructose intolerance and other such conditions at risk because
these individuals currently understand “corn sugar” to be a fructose-free
ingredient.
The decision has reportedly drawn support from consumer groups such
as the National Consumers League as well as the Sugar Association, which
recently backed sugar producers in litigation against HFCS manufacturers.
“The FDA’s ruling represents a victory for American consumers,” said one
plaintiff’s attorney in a May 30 Sugar Association press release. “It reaffirms
what most consumer advocates, health experts and policy officials have been
saying all along: only sugar is sugar. HFCS is not sugar. The next step is for the
federal court to end the CRA’s misleading propaganda campaign.”
CRA, however, has criticized FDA’s response for failing to resolve consumer
confusion or address evidence that HFCS is nutritionally identical to other
sugars.“The Food [and] Drug Administration denied our petition to use the
term corn sugar to describe high-fructose corn syrup on narrow, technical
grounds,” opined CRA President Audrae Erickson in a May 30 statement. “In
light of the FDA’s technical decision, it is important to note that the agency
continues to consider HFCS as a form of added sugar, and requires that it be
identified to consumers in the category of sugars on the Nutrition Facts Panel
on foods and beverages.” Additional details about the “corn sugar” litigation
appear in Issue 415 of this Update. See The Wall Street Journal, May 30, 2012;
Law360 and The National Law Journal, May 31, 2012.
