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Much High Fructose Corn Syrup Contaminated With Mercury, New Study Finds
Janelle Sorensen
Monday, January 26, 2009
Mercury was found in nearly 50 percent of tested samples of commercial high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), according to a new article published today in the scientific journal, Environmental Health. A separate study by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) detected mercury in nearly one-third of 55 popular brandname food and beverage products where HFCS is the first or second highest labeled ingredient—including products by Quaker, Hershey’s, Kraft and Smucker’s.
HFCS use has skyrocketed in recent decades as the sweetener has replaced sugar in many processed foods. HFCS is found in sweetened beverages, breads, cereals, breakfast bars, lunch meats, yogurts, soups and condiments.
On average, Americans consume about 12 teaspoons per day of HFCS. Consumption by teenagers and other high consumers can be up to 80 percent above average levels.
“Mercury is toxic in all its forms,” said IATP’s David Wallinga, M.D., and a co-author in both studies. “Given how much high fructose corn syrup is consumed by children, it could be a significant additional source of mercury never before considered. We are calling for immediate changes by industry and the FDA to help stop this avoidable mercury contamination of the food supply.”
In the Environmental Health article, Dufault et al. found detectable levels of mercury in nine of 20 samples of commercial HFCS. Dufault was working at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration when the tests were done in 2005. She and co-authors conclude that possible mercury contamination of food chemicals like HFCS was not common knowledge within the food industry that frequently uses the sweetener. While the FDA had evidence that commercial HFCS was contaminated with mercury four years ago, the agency did not inform consumers, help change industry practice or conduct additional testing.
For its report “Not So Sweet: Missing Mercury and High Fructose Corn Syrup” IATP sent 55 brand-name foods and beverages containing HFCS as the first or second ingredient to a commercial laboratory to be tested for total mercury. Nearly one in three products tested contained detectable mercury. Mercury was most prevalent in HFCScontaining dairy products, followed by dressings and condiments.
In making HFCS, caustic soda is used, among other things, to separate corn starch from the corn kernel. For decades, HFCS has been made using mercury-grade caustic soda produced in industrial chlorine (chlor-alkali) plants. The use of mercury cells to produce caustic soda can contaminate caustic soda, and ultimately HFCS, with mercury.
“The bad news is that nobody knows whether or not their soda or snack food contains HFCS made from ingredients like caustic soda contaminated with mercury,” said Dr. Wallinga. “The good news is that mercury-free HFCS ingredients exist. Food companies just need a good push to only use those ingredients.”
While most chlorine plants around the world have switched to newer, cleaner technologies, many still rely on the use of mercury cells. In 2005, 90 percent of chlorine production was mercury-free, but just 40 percent of European production was mercury-free. Four U.S. chlor-alkali plants still rely on mercury cell technology. In 2007, then-Senator Barack Obama introduced legislation to force the remaining chlor-alkali plants to phase out mercury cell technology by 2012.
Posted by joe on 02/02 at 01:45 PM
I have a question regarding this paper. I noted in the first paragraph you stated nearly 50% of the tested products had mercury. Then in paragraph 6 it dropped to 1/3. In your closing you stated that only 10% of the worlds factories used this mercury-based process, so I think what you’re saying is that the most popular and best selling products on the market are made in those factories with little or no regard for the people that consume them. I would really like to see some more regarding this.
Please show us how and where you got this information, so we can look and see for ourselves and not just take it at face value. As there is much on the Internet that is made up or someone’s idea of what might be true, please give more information like where this stuff is made and be more detailed as to the brands you seem to have covered. However, if you can’t, well I guess I would be right not to believe this and should do the right thing and send it to all the companies you named on this page. I only want the truth for the safety of my children. Thank you for your response.
Posted by susan on 02/04 at 10:03 AM
Joe, I’m not sure where the 50% number came from, but definitely 1/3 of the 55 products in the study showed up with mercury.
Please follow the links to the study to get more details; it’s really kind of interesting reading. :-) Both the piece from Environmental Health and the one from IATP freely admit that these are very small studies and to get a better picture, someone like the FDA should undertake further investigation.
Do the work and draw your own conclusions.
Posted by Pam on 02/04 at 10:15 AM
I read about this in Grist last week and they posted a link in their article to the actual study. Here’s the link to their story
http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2009/1/26/132619/467
Posted by SAHMto2girls on 02/04 at 10:34 AM
This is not an artificial sweetener, but it is extremely toxic. There is an incredible study about the presence of mercury in HFCS, which recently launched a ‘it’s good for you ad campaign’ even. Now maybe parents of autistic kids will stop blaming vax as the sole source of mercury and focus on their diets instead!
Posted by Christine on 02/04 at 11:25 AM
Even without mercury, HFCS is not good for us, so we should avoid it anyway. I won’t buy products that contain HFCS. It can be difficult to find snacks for the kids without it, but not impossible.
Posted by Janelle on 02/04 at 12:21 PM
Joe, the 50% statistic is from the study published in Environmental Health that looked at HFCS samples. The 1/3 statistic is from the IATP report that tested food products containing HFCS. Currently there’s no way to know how much mercury-grade caustic soad is being used for food products from the remaining chlor-alkali facilities that still rely on that technology.
If you click on the links in the blog, you can read both the study and the report and examine all of the references. I assure you, this was not “made up.”
Also, please read my follow-up response to the debate surrounding the issue, as well as the detailed answers to frequently asked questions put together by Dr. Wallinga at IATP.
You’ll find both at http://healthychild.org/blog/comments/debate_over_hfcs_in_mercury_answers_to_frequently_asked_questions/
Posted by john on 02/07 at 12:05 PM
What is the corn industries rebuttal on the bad effects of HFCS and/or the mercury contained in some of it? They just launched the ad campaign that says its ok, is there any theory behind this?
Posted by Janelle on 02/09 at 12:18 PM
John, the Corn Refiner’s Association continues to maintain that their product is completely safe. Of course, it’s a multi-billion dollar industry, so they have a lot to lose if people stop buying their product.
The FDA really needs to look into this contamination.
Posted by Andrew Ashley on 08/14 at 09:44 AM
Ha! I smelled a rat when I saw a commercial hyping corn syrup. I only see about ten minutes of tv a month, but managed to catch a spot extolling the virtues of high fructose corn syrup. Now I see the motivation. Thanks for the post!
Posted by Stephanie on 01/29 at 03:17 PM
It’s incredible…just when you thought a product couldn’t get any worse for you you hear something like this. It’s best just to stay away from artificial sweeteners in general. They’re incredibly toxic.