Corn Syrup Gets Rebranded "Corn Sugar"

The Corn Refiners Association appears to be taking a cue from Blackwater: After all that bad press, they are rebranding. Starting now, we are all supposed to start referring to high-fructose corn syrup by the gentler, more fresh-from-nature sounding "corn sugar." They even have a new website up about it.

"The name 'corn sugar' more accurately reflects the source of the food (corn), identifies the basic nature of the food (a sugar), and discloses the food's function (a sweetener)," the petition said.

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I mean, sure. But that's obviously not the reasoning behind the name change. One would guess that has more to do with the fact that HFCS has been fingered as obesity's public enemy number one, the overconsumption of which has been linked to countless chronic health problems.

The FDA has yet to OK the official on-label name change, but the corn people are already at work on the rest of us. On Sunday night I saw a TV ad for the stuff that featured sweeping shots of nature, and the website has pretty pictures of corn fields, expert quotes, and information for dietitians about how not-bad-for-you HFCS is.

I find it hard to imagine that people will take the bait on this (though there's little doubt in my mind the FDA will). What do you think?