High-fructose corn syrup
To make HFCS, the corn syrup is further processed by D-xylose isomerase to convert some of its glucose into fructose.
HFCS was first marketed in the early 1970s by the Clinton Corn Processing Company, together with the Japanese Agency of Industrial Science and Technology, where the enzyme was discovered in 1965.
[6] In the United States, HFCS is among the sweeteners that have mostly replaced sucrose (table sugar) in the food industry.
[7][8] Factors contributing to the increased use of HFCS in food manufacturing include production quotas of domestic sugar, import tariffs on foreign sugar, and subsidies of U.S. corn, raising the price of sucrose and reducing that of HFCS, creating a manufacturing-cost advantage among sweetener applications.
[8][9] In spite of having a 10% greater fructose content,[10] the relative sweetness of HFCS 55, used most commonly in soft drinks,[5] is comparable to that of sucrose.
[8] HFCS provides advantages in food and beverage manufacturing, such as simplicity of formulation, stability, and enabling processing efficiencies.
[12] Assays to detect adulteration of sweetened products with HFCS, such as liquid honey, use differential scanning calorimetry and other advanced testing methods.
[24] HFCS production arose in Japan after government policies created a rise in the price of sugar.
[31] On 1 January 2002, Mexico imposed a 20% beverage tax on soft drinks and syrups not sweetened with cane sugar.
[36] In the United States, HFCS has been widely used in food manufacturing since the 1970s, primarily as a replacement for sucrose because of its similar sweetness.
[39] Soft drink makers such as Coca-Cola and Pepsi continue to use sugar in other nations but transitioned to HFCS for U.S. markets in 1980 before completely switching over in 1984.
[40] Large corporations, such as Archer Daniels Midland, lobby for the continuation of government corn subsidies.
[47] In 2018, the Vietnam Sugarcane and Sugar Association (VSSA) called for government intervention on current tax policies.
[51][52] A 2014 systematic review found little evidence for an association between HFCS consumption and liver diseases, enzyme levels or fat content.
[53] A 2018 review found that lowering consumption of sugary beverages and fructose products may reduce hepatic fat accumulation, which is associated with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.
[4][5] One consumer concern about HFCS is that processing of corn is more complex than used for common sugar sources, such as fruit juice concentrates or agave nectar, but all sweetener products derived from raw materials involve similar processing steps of pulping, hydrolysis, enzyme treatment, and filtration, among other common steps of sweetener manufacturing from natural sources.
[57] One prior concern in manufacturing was whether HFCS contains reactive carbonyl compounds or advanced glycation end-products evolved during processing.
[59] In a 2009 release,[60] The Corn Refiners Association stated that all factories in the American industry for manufacturing HFCS had used mercury-free processing over several previous years, making the prior report outdated.
As a consequence, several companies reverted to manufacturing with sucrose (table sugar) from products that had previously been made with HFCS.
[70] In August 2016, in a move to please consumers with health concerns, McDonald's announced that it would be replacing all HFCS in their buns with sucrose (table sugar) and would remove preservatives and other artificial additives from its menu items.
[71] Marion Gross, senior vice president of McDonald's stated, "We know that they [consumers] don't feel good about high-fructose corn syrup so we're giving them what they're looking for instead.
[3]: 17 [74] In 1965–1970, Yoshiyuki Takasaki, at the Japanese National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology developed a heat-stable xylose isomerase enzyme from yeast.
In 1967, the Clinton Corn Processing Company obtained an exclusive license to manufacture glucose isomerase derived from Streptomyces bacteria and began shipping an early version of HFCS in February 1967.
