If it wasn’t painful enough that the producers of high fructose corn syrup have kicked off a marketing campaign to reassure us that their product is not so bad, the Ethicurean brings us news of another blow.  The FDA now has stepped in, agreeing with the claim that HFCS is natural.  

Which, as we’ve discussed before, is a term that has little meaning and lulls consumers into believing what they’re eating is good for them.  I’ll say it one more time:  Just because the original source was produced somewhere outdoors, doesn’t mean the end product is natural, or that “natural” is even a helpful term when it comes to very processed, treated food.

So, now the FDA is invested in not offending the corn lobby and in encouraging us to eat more HFCS.  I suppose we’re all going to have to pay for the subsequent increase in medical care too, right?

Sigh.

Quick technical note:  Sorry to all of you who have been unable to access the comments section.  Apple’s been transitioning over most of their web-based programs, which is also why I’ve been unable to publish new posts for the last 24 hours.

Currently, the site seems to be publishing, but the comments section is not, and the link to leave comments hasn’t been working.  I’m sorry for the inconvenience; it’s really Apple’s problem, and those of us using their technology are just going to have to wait until they fix the mess.

Incidentally, for those of you using Firefox 3.0, you won’t be able to access comments at all in that browser until Firefox fixes it.

Thanks to Surfer Labor for the Creative Commons photo.