Heavy snow and difficult travel expected again, heaviest snow in southern Minnesota

MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all. 

Turn Up Your Support

Big Sugar and Big Corn face off in court this week in a bitter, multibillion-dollar battle of sweeteners that boils down to a mix of science, semantics and marketing. 
 

Jurors in the case between sugar processors and corn manufacturers will take up one of nutrition's most vexing debates and confront a choice common among some consumers: sugar or high fructose corn syrup? 
 

The trial starting Tuesday in federal court grew out of efforts by the Corn Refiners Association to rebrand its high fructose corn syrup as "corn sugar" to reverse damaging publicity that associated it with diabetes and obesity. 
 

Its ad campaign featured a TV commercial with a father walking with his daughter across a cornfield and saying that he's reassured by experts that high fructose corn syrup is the same as cane sugar. 
 

"Your body can't tell the difference," he says. "Sugar is sugar." 
 

That didn't go over well with the Western Sugar Cooperative and other sugar processors, who sued the corn refiners and Archer Daniels Midland Co. and Cargill Inc. for false advertising. They are seeking as much as $2 billion. 
 

Corn refiners and the two agribusiness giants countersued, charging the sugar industry with making false and misleading statements that included a comment that high fructose corn syrup is as addictive as crack cocaine. They are seeking $530 million. 
 

Jurors will hear from experts on both sides of the debate, getting a mix of science and spin. They will also see damning internal documents that show what was happening behind closed doors. 
 

Corn refiners will present evidence that the sugar industry was behind the pounding that high fructose corn syrup took in public opinion as sugar tried to regain market share it lost when food producers switched to the cheaper corn product that came on the market in the 1970s.

Business and Economic News

Shows

Morning Edition

The Associated Press

Author

Big Sugar and Big Corn face off in court this week in a bitter, multibillion-dollar battle of sweeteners that boils down to a mix of science, semantics and marketing.

Is it fair to say high-fructose corn syrup is about the same as refined sugar? A jury will consider that question in a trial starting today in a California federal district court. Producers and refiners of cane sugar and sugar beets are suing the Corn Refiners Association and its members, including Twin Cities-based Cargill. They say the producers of high fructose corn syrup have wrongly equated the product with sugar. In return, the corn refiners are suing back over some of the disparaging statements the sugar folks have made about high fructose corn syrup.  MPR's Cathy Wurzer spoke with Annie Baxter to talk about this.  She was a long time MPR reporter who now covers food and agriculture for Marketplace.

Federal jury to settle bitter battle between sweeteners

Go Deeper.

Like this?