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Newest Find: Sweet Leaf Tea
Sweet Leaf Tea does not use high-fructose corn syrup in their tea, they use sugar! Plus they have a totally cute website and a (very subudued but vehement) rant about using sugar and good ingredients over using cost-cutting ingredients.
It’s (sort of) Official! FDA’s Geraldine June says that High-Fructose Corn Syrup is Not ‘Natural’
An article on the http://foodnavigator-usa.com/ web site quotes Geraldine June as saying, “The use of synthetic fixing agents in the enzyme preparation, which is then used to produce HFCS, would not be consistent with our … policy regarding the use of the term ‘natural’.” She then goes on to say, “… the corn starch hydrolysate, which is the substrate used in the production of HFCS, may be obtained through the use of safe and suitable acids or enzymes. Depending on the type of acid(s) used to obtain the corn starch hydrolysate, this substrate itself may not fit within the description of ‘natural’ and, therefore, HCFS produced from such corn starch hydrolysate would not qualify for a ‘natural’ labeling term.”
This is a very big deal, in my opinion! Any products which are currently labeled as “natural” but that contain hfcs, will now have to either update their labelling or remove the HFCS. I personally advocate for the latter!
It’s also very amusing to me, because the Corn Refiners Association put out a propaganda/spin type website in early February called “sweet smarts.” And on this web site (which I wrote about in the blog entry Corn Refiners Association Launches Web Site to Inform Us All About Sweeteners) they said that high-fructose corn syrup is considered natural based on the FDA’s definition of natural. I guess they’ll have to change their site, now.
One argument that proponents of hfcs have had in their pockets was that the FDA had not declared hfcs to be “not natural.” That is one less card they have up their sleeve now. I guess they are going to have to get some more ammo for their side. Or, you know, start producing products with increased nutritional value.
New Items on the No HFCS List
I don’t have an e-mail alert system or anything. But I did sign up for FeedBurner’s widget that can get RSS feeds delivered right to your e-mail.
So whenever I add anything to the No HFCS list, I’ll make a blog post announcing it so it can go out on the feeds. The ‘Subscribe’ box is right over there on the right.
Also, if you have any to add to the list, just click on the “Contact” tab. Thanks!
No HFCS List
If you would like to be alerted when this list is updated, sign up for the RSS feed (over on the left).
This is a list I have compiled (and am actively adding to) of products which do not contain HFCS. These are all products that now seems to contain HFCS more often than not - so I am posting when I come across a brand/variety that does not contain it (last I checked, anyway).
If you have some finds you’d like to share on this list, send me the info, and I will add it here.
BREAD
• Amana Multi Grain Bread
• Aunt Millie’s Old Fashioned Butter-Top Wheat
• Brownberry’s Arnold Natural Health Nut Bread
• Country Hearth 12-Grain Bread
• Earth Grains 100% Natural 7-Grain Bread
• Franz “McKenzie Farms” Old Fashioned Buttermilk Bread
• Franz Whole Grain White
• Milton’s Bread (most, if not all)
• Natures Own 100% Whole Wheat bread (note, other varieties do contain HFCS, but not this one)
• Oroweat Mult-Grain Bread (but watch out for HFCS in their other varietes)
• Martin’s Breads & Rolls (including hot dog buns/rolls and such)
• Pepperidge Farms 100% Natural Breads
• Pepperidge Farms Whole Grain Wheat Bread
• Rudi’s Organic Bakery Buns
• Vermont Bread Company breads
CEREAL
• Cheerios
• Giant brand Instant Oatmeal - most flavors
• Kashi (most, if not all)
• Life ceral (regular and cinnamon)
• Nature’s Pride Organic (most, if not all, varieties)
• Kellogg’s Reduced Sugar Froot Loops
• Trader Joe’s Graham Bites Cereal
CONDIMENTS
• Annie’s Naturals Organic Ketchup
• Annie’s Naturals Organic Honey Mustard
• Annie’s Naturals Smokey Maple BBQ Sauce
• Bull’s-Eye Original Barbeque Sauce
• Cascadian Farms Sweet Pickle Relish
• Frenchs Honey Dijon Mustard (I don’t think most regular mustard contains hfcs, but a lot of the “honey” mustard does, which is why I’m listing some honey mustards here that don’t.)
• Frontera BBQ (Barbecue) Sauce
• Gates BBQ Sauce (a barbecue sauce mainly found in the Kansas City area)
• Heinz Organic Ketchup
• Hellman’s Mayonaise
• Meijer Organic Sweet Relish
• Nature’s Best Organic Tomato Ketchup
• Vlasic Sweet Gherkins
• Woeber Sweet And Spicy Mustard
• Consorzio Bbq Sauce Organic Original
• Trader Joe’s Hot and Sweet Mustard
CRACKERS
• Dare Vinta Crackers
• Milton’s (most, if not all)
• Pepperidge Farm Goldfish
MARINADES
• Acadia Naturals Tuscan Grill Marinade
• Consorzio Brand Marinades
PEANUT BUTTER
• Jif Peanut Butter
• Skippy Super Chunk Peanut Butter
• Trader Joe’s brand Creamy, Unsalted Peanut Butter
SALAD DRESSINGS
• Annie’s Naturals Goddess Dressing
• Annie’s Roasted Red Pepper Vinaigrette
• Blanchard & Blanchard (Country Italian & Caeser Parmesan)
• Brianna’s Blush Vinaigrette Salad Dressing
• Drew’s Salad Dressings
• Olde Cape Cod Traditional Caeser Lite
ICE CREAM / FROZEN NOVELTIES
• Ben & Jerry’s (most, if not all, varieties, but watch for the kinds that add bits of candy bars and cookies)
• Breyer’s All Natural Ice Cream
• Dreyers/Edys Strawberry Fruit Ice Cream Bars
• Haagen Dazs Dark Chocolate Ice Cream Bars
• Breyers Pure Fruit Strawberry Fruit Bars
• Stoneyfield Farms
COOKIES
• Archway’s Molasses Cookies
• Destrooper Almond Thins Cookie
• Destrooper Butter Crisp Cookies
• Keebler Pecan Sandies Cookies
• Keebler Simply Sandies Cookies
• Lu Le Petit Beurre Cookies
• Lu Scottish Recipe Shortbread
• Mi-Del Snaps Ginger
• Nature’s Best Chocolate Sandwich Creme Cookies
• Newmans Wheat Free Fig Newton Cookies
• Newmans Own Ginger Os Ginger N Creme Cookies
• NewmanS Own Alphabet Cookies
• Pepperidge Farms Butter Chessman Cookies
• Pepperidge Farm 100% Natural Varieties
CHOCOLATE
• Cadbury - Most Varieties
• Hershey’s Symphony
• Hershey’s 100 Calorie Wafer Bar
• Hershey Skor Candy Bar
• Hershey Special Dark Candy Bar
• Dove - Most varieties
OTHER CANDYJELLIES, JAMS AND PRESERVES
• Bonne Maman Preserves
• Hero Jams & Jellies
• Smuckers Organic Strawberry Preserves
• St Dalfour Preserves
• Trader Joe’s Reduced Sugar Organic Strawberry Preserves
MAPLE SYRUP
• Trader Joe’s Organic Maple Syrup
• Pretty much any actual maple syrup is devoid of hfcs - most “pancake syrup” does not even have any maple syrup in it and is pretty much all sweetener and water and “stuff”
PASTA SAUCES
• Classico (Most varieties)
SODA POP
• Archer Farms brand Natural Italian soda
• Bawls Guarana Soda (most varieties)
• Blue Sky Soft Drinks
• Boylan’s Sodas
• Cheerwine (the glass bottle varieties)
• Jones Pure Cane Soda
• Goose Island
• Dublin Dr. Pepper (Dr. Pepper from a bottling plant in Dublin, Texas)
• Nantucket Nectars
• Thomas Kemper Sodas
• Virgil’s Sodas (the cream, cherry and root beer varieties)
SPORTS DRINKS
• Accellerate
OTHER BEVERAGES
• Bolthouse Farms C-Boost Smoothie
• Bolthouse Farms Vegetable Juice
• Capri Sun ALL NATURAL 100% Juice
• Horizon Flavored Milks (chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry)
• Ocean Spray Grapefruit Juice
• Ovaltine (dry chocolate drink mix)
• Simply Juice (orange, limeade, and lemonade)
• Sweet Leaf Tea
YOGURT
• Breyer’s
• Brown Cow
• Dannon All Natural Vanilla Yogurt
• Dannon All Natural Coffee Yogurt
• Dannon Lite & Fit Vanilla Yogurt
• Great Value Light Nonfat Yogurt (most varieties, if not all)
• Horizon Organic Fat Free Yogurt
• Nancys Reduced Fat Plain
• Nancy’s Whole Milk Honey Yogurt
• Stoneyfield Farm Yogurt
• Stoneyfield Farm Yobaby Yogurt
GRANOLA BARS
• Kashi
• Nature Valley Oats & Honey flavor granola bars
OTHER
• Cool Whip Sugar Free
• Special K Original Waffles
• Kashi Go Lean Waffles
Trailer for the Movie, “King Corn”
Here is a trailer for the movie ‘King Corn,’ which I highly recommend. It’s an in-depth and entertaining documentary about the corn industry, high-fructose corn syrup and “King Corn” (presumably our beloved Earl Butz, but they never do say).
My favorite quote: “It’s enough to make you distrust everything on your plate.”
Corn Refiners Association Launches Web Site to Inform Us All About Sweeteners
From the “Web Sites as Propaganda Machines” file, I am flabbergasted to bring news that the Corn Refiners Association has launched a web site called “sweet smarts” so they can inform all of us ignorant folks out in the webosphere about how different sweeteners stack up against each other. (i.e. try to convince us that 4 calories worth of high fructose corn syrup is no worse for you than 4 calories worth of honey or sugar.)
They have a cute little quiz that I took. I deliberately got all of the answers wrong so they could preach at me, and tell me how great hfcs is.
They presented two very arguable (in my opinion) points as factual. First, they referred to research which came to the conclusion that sweetening beverages with HFCS does not have any different affect on hunger and satiety than regular sugar. I’m guessing they were referring to one such study that I posted about last July, whose findings were highly dubious, as I opined at length.
The other was that high-fructose corn syrup is considered natural based on the FDA’s definition of natural. Careful with that one, now - they did NOT say that the FDA had described HFCS as being natural. They said HFCS is considered to be natural according to the FDA’s definition of the term ‘natural.’ Those are two very different things. Considered natural by who??? One can only surmise….
The Center For Science In the Public Interest initiated a lawsuit against Cadbury-Schweppes for labeling 7-Up as “All Natural.” The crux of the lawsuit was that 7-Up contains HFCS and therefore can not be labelled as “all natural.” As a result, Cadbury-Schweppes dropped the “all natural” claim and CPSI dropped their lawsuit. As a bonus, Cadbury-Schweppes also dropped the “natural” claim from Snapple labels as well, but a lawyer still filed suit against the company last summer, attempting to get class action status.
The CPSI’s claim that HFCS is not natural is explained in this quote, “…in to contrast to table sugar, high-fructose corn syrup is made through a complex chemical industrial process in which corn starch molecules are enzymatically reassembled into glucose and fructose molecules.” (SOURCE: The Center For Science In The Public Interest)
I took a look at the “Terms of Use” section of the Sweet Smarts web site, and it was so long and heavy with legal disclaimers, my jaw hit the floor. I was ready for some legalese, of course, but this read like a cell-phone contract. I was really shocked that it didn’t have an arbitration clause in it!
They also seemed to be pushing a sweetener I’d never heard of called “neotame.” I guess that is the next big thing we’ll be hearing about. I wonder whether the Corn Refiners Association is connected to it at all.
Corn Refiners Association Wins Against Sugar Industry Officials in NAFTA Fight
Industry officials in the sugar industry have abandoned the fight to renew the restrictions governing the United States/Mexican sugar trade (formerly implemented via NAFTA). The “intense opposition from the Bush administration and the corn syrup industry” proved to be too much, apparently. (SOURCE: Grand Forks Herald)
Sadly, it is unclear why industry officials gave up on their efforts. My questions are: Where are the representatives who are supposed to be standing up for the farmers on these issues? Where do they stand, and why wasn’t there a bigger fight?
(Here is a link to bugmenot.com if you are prompted to log-in when visiting the above mentioned article.)
Corn Products International, Inc. Profits Up
Corn Products International, Inc., which makes high-fructose corn syrup, outperformed estimates and said that their 4th quarter profits rose 40 percent. (SOURCE: Chicago Tribune )
On one hand, I find this surprising, since people seem to be trying to stay away from high-fructose corn syrup. On the other hand, competing with ethanol demand probably sent prices up a bit. If ethanol causes the price of HFCS to go up by very much, I would bet that we will be seeing a lot more companies offering “organic” products in the grocery store in the next few years!
Earl Butz, Who Blessed Us With Abundance of HFCS, Dies
The man responsible for offending Catholics, Jews, and black people is also responsible for the onslaught of subsidies that eventually brought us high fructose corn syrup. He was hailed as a hero for this by farmers and in Washington. The rest of us kind of curse the day he walked into Washington and into public life. Apparently high fructose corn syrup was his crowning glory in his quest for producing ”cheap food.”
Sadly, he has passed away at age 98. He led a long life of offending people left and right and not knowing when to keep his mouth shut, according to his obituary (found here).
Earl Butz - Would this website need exist if it hadn’t been for him?
CSPI and Corn Refiners - An Odd Couple Unite Against Soft Drink Tax Proposal
CSPI (Center for Science in the Public Interest) believes that consuming too much of any kind of sugar is bad for you. With that, I agree. So they oppose a tax plan by the city of San Francisco that would tax soft drinks containing high fructose corn syrup, but wouln’t add the tax to soft drinks containing natural sugar.
The Corn Refiners Association is against this tax plan, too, for obvious reasons. But my opinion that their view has more to do with their profits than with “public interest.” It probably also has to do with how they feel they would be perceived if an official governemnt body seemingly endorsed regular sugar as being healthier than high fructose corn syrup.
In a way, it’s understandable that each of these bodies oppose the tax plan for their own reasons. But it is really inadvisable, from my point of view, for the CPSI to sign a joint letter with the Corn Refiners Association. In a way, that hints at endorsement of HFCS takes away some of their credibility as a disinterested scientific body.
