A North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) tribunal has reportedly awarded $58 million in damages to Corn Products International’s Mexican affiliate after finding that Mexico imposed discriminatory taxes on beverages sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS). The tribunal determined in January 2008 that Mexico had breached its NAFTA obligations to favor its domestic sugar industry by requiring a 20 percent tax on HFCS-sweetened beverages. According to a news source, the tax was also imposed in retaliation for U.S. curbs on surplus Mexican sugar imports in the 1990s, an anti-dumping practice declared illegal by the World Trade Organization. See FoodNavigator-USA.com, August 29, 2009.
Tag Archives corn syrup
The Third Circuit Court of Appeals has determined that federal food labeling law does not preempt the state law-based claims filed by a consumer who challenged Snapple’s designation of beverages containing high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) as “natural.” Holk v. Snapple Beverage Corp., No. 08-3060 (3d Cir., decided August 12, 2009). The appeals court reversed a lower court ruling dismissing the claims on the basis of implied preemption. The complaint, originally filed in state court, but removed to federal court in 2007 under the Class Action Fairness Act, initially asserted that Snapple products were not “All Natural” because they contained HFCS; they were not “Made from the Best Stuff on Earth”; and Snapple falsely labeled some beverages, naming them after fruit-juice varieties that were not actually in the beverages. The plaintiff alleged unjust enrichment and common law restitution, breach of express and implied warranties and violations of the New Jersey…
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…
“Like other villainous ingredients – trans fat and artificial food dye come to mind – high-fructose corn syrup [HFCS] is accused of being at once unhealthy, unnatural and unappetizing,” writes Slate contributor Daniel Engber in this article exploring these “three cardinal claims of food politics” against HFCS, which has suffered a consumer backlash “exacerbated by the general view that it’s less ‘natural’ than other forms of sugar.” According to the article, critics of HFCS have implied that the fructose-based sweetener is more harmful than other added sugars refined from cane sugar or beet sugar. This theory apparently spawned several lawsuits contesting the “metaphysical status of corn syrup” in products labeled “all natural.” The legal disputes have reportedly led the Food and Drug Administration to issue guidance declaring that HFCS can be considered a “natural” ingredient if it has not come into physical contact with glutaraldehyde, a synthetic fixing agent used to…
A putative class action filed in a California federal court against Snapple Beverage Corp. alleges that the company misleads consumers by labeling as “All Natural” products containing high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) and using the names of fruits for some products that “do not contain any significant amount of the fruit listed in the product’s name.” Von Koenig v. Snapple Beverage Corp., No. 09-00337 (E.D. Cal., filed March 4, 2009). The named plaintiff seeks to certify two subclasses of California consumers “to redress Defendant’s deceptive, misleading and untrue advertising and unlawful, unfair and fraudulent business acts and practices.” One subclass would involve those who purchased the company’s “All Natural Products” that contained HFCS; the other would include those who purchased “Fruit Products . . . which included the name or picture of a fruit in the product name or label but which did not contain a substantial amount of that…
A federal court has refused to dismiss putative class claims filed under California’s consumer protection law against a company that advertises its pasta sauce, which contains high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), as “all natural.” Lockwood v. ConAgra Foods, Inc., No. 08-04151 (N.D. Cal., decided February 3, 2009). The defendant sought to dismiss the claims on preemption grounds and called for the class allegations to be stricken “because plaintiffs cannot prove reliance on a class-wide basis.” According to the court, the federal Nutrition Labeling and Education Act (NLEA) does not apply to the “complaint as currently pled. Plaintiffs do not allege that defendant’s pasta sauce contains artificial flavoring, coloring or a chemical preservative; rather, they allege that the ‘high fructose corn syrup’ is not produced by a natural process and therefore the pasta sauce is not ‘all natural.’” The court also found that the claims were not impliedly preempted because “Congress has explicitly stated…
A recent study published in Environmental Health has allegedly identified mercury in nearly 50 percent of sampled commercial high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). Renee Dufault, et al., “Mercury From Chlor-Alkali Plants: Measured Concentrations in Food Product Sugar,” Environmental Health, January 2009. The study authors apparently detected mercury in nine of 20 HFCS samples from 2005, concluding that “it may be necessary to account for this source of mercury in the diet of children and sensitive populations.” In addition, the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) has released a report that claims to have found mercury in one-third of 55 brand-name food and beverage products listing HFCS as the first or second ingredient. Both publications were co-authored by the director of IATP’s Food and Health Program, David Wallinga, who reportedly linked the contamination to mercury-grade caustic soda used to separate corn starch from corn kernels during HFCS production. He speculated that…
A California resident has filed suit against ConAgra Foods, Inc., alleging that it falsely advertises and labels its Healthy Choice® pasta sauce products as “100% Natural,” “Natural” or “All Natural” despite using high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) to make them. Lockwood v. ConAgra Foods, Inc., No. 08-4151 (N.D. Cal., filed September 2, 2008). Claiming that “[t]he complicated process used to create HFCS does not occur in nature” and that “it is misleading to consumers to label products that contain HFCS as ‘Natural,’” the plaintiff seeks to certify a class of “All persons in California who purchased any of Defendant’s pasta sauce products containing High Fructose Corn Syrup, yet marketed, advertised or labeled as being ‘All Natural’, ‘Natural’ or ‘100% Natural’ during the ‘Class Period.’” According to the plaintiff, a number of common questions predominate over individual issues, including whether defendant misrepresented its ingredients, mislabeled its products or engaged in unfair and…
In a July 3, 2008, letter to the Corn Refiners Association, the FDA has indicated that products containing high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) may be labeled “natural” if the synthetic fixing agent that is used in the HFCS production process does not come into contact with the high dextrose equivalent corn starch hydrolysate, which undergoes enzymatic reaction to produce HFCS. The fixing agent apparently holds the enzyme in place on a column and any unreacted agent is removed by washing before the starch hydrolysate is added. Thus, “we would not object to the use of the term ‘natural’ on a product containing the HFCS produced by the manufacturing process described” by a representative of the Archer Daniels Midland Co., who met with FDA at the request of the Corn Refiners Association in April 2008. The agency added, “we would object to the use of the term ‘natural’ on a product containing…
According to a news source, a federal court in New Jersey has dismissed claims that the manufacturer of a beverage containing high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) deceived the public by promoting the product as “all natural.” The court apparently based its ruling on federal preemption, leaving it to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to define the terms “natural” and “all natural.” U.S. District Judge Mary Cooper reportedly stated, “This court will not determine that which the FDA, with all of its scientific expertise, has yet to determine, namely how the terms ‘natural’ and ‘all natural’ should be defined and whether either may be used on the label of a beverage containing HFCS. Instead, this court will allow the FDA, which has already set forth specific requirements for what must be included on beverage labels, to decide whether such a determination is necessary and warranted.” The ruling specifically applies to Snapple®…
