Call it what it is: corn sugar

The FDA can ease confusion about high fructose corn syrup sweetener for the corn refiners by requiring all corn sugars, including dextrose and maltodextrin, to be given the same name. Then people might understand the real amount of "corn sugar" being stuffing down their throats.

Renaming products has worked but has left the public skeptical. After all, when sheep watch the wolf dress in sheep's clothing often enough, there is little pretense left.

The 1938 the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act imposed rules requiring the word "imitation" to appear on products that were imitations of standard foods. For example, margarine is an imitation of butter; Velveeta is an imitation of cheese. Common sense dictated people should know what to expect from their milk, cheese, butter, beef, etc. The Act required an "imitation" label on imitation foods. It took the food industry until 1973 to get this rule tossed out. Congress did not write a new law, rather, the FDA simply repealed the act.

For years the FDA and the food industry have herded the public down a path for industry profits while our food's nutritional content has deteriorated and chemical additives increased. Should we peek below the sheep's skin and find corn sugar is making us obese, increasing medical costs, and refuse to buy it, the industry answer is to change the name and wait for the dust to settle.

The industry practices salesmanship, persuading people to buy what they do not need, and do not want, for more than it is worth and Americans have learned to crave cheap food in large sizes.

The food industry, between recalls and new food awareness campaigns, has lost the public's trust and that, by any name, should be the game changer.

Gail Talbot

Huntley