Nina Shen Rastogi, “May Cause Earth Decay: Is Regular Sugar Greener Than High-Fructose Corn Syrup?,” Slate, May 19, 2009

This article examines the claim that the production of high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) has a greater environmental impact than similar processes used to manufacture sucrose from sugar cane or sugar beets. According to Slate columnist Nina Shen Rastogi, “sugar cane seems to be the most efficient producer of sugar and potentially the lightest user of fossil fuels, even though its significant water requirements
can’t be ignored.” The article reports that one consulting firm ranked HFCS processing “the most energy-intensive food-manufacturing industry in America, meaning it spent the most on electricity and fuel per dollar-value shipments made,” while “sugar beet processing comes in at No. 2” and “sugar cane mills and refineries, collectively, are No. 3.” Other researchers reportedly concluded that, “on average, greenhouse gas emissions, and the release of acidifying substances seemed highest with corn sugar.”

Rastogi notes, however, that each type of processing “returns some useful byproducts that can offset some of the environmental burdens.” In addition, she argues, the United States uses “a whole lot more corn for fuel alcohol (36 percent in 2008) and animal feed (roughly 50 percent),” than it does to produce corn-based sugars, which account for only 7 percent of total U.S. grain corn production. Rastogi ultimately
advises readers that reducing HFCS consumption does not make sense from an environmental standpoint unless you are “willing to gobble up the rest of Florida, Louisiana, Hawaii, and Texas just to avoid corn [sugar].”