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High-Fructose Corn Syrup Contaminated With Mercury, New Study Finds

Brand-Name Food Products Also Discovered to Contain Mercury

Mercury was found in nearly 50% of tested samples of commercial high -fructose corn syrup (HFCS), according to an article published in the scientific journal Environmental Health.¹ A separate study by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) detected mercury in nearly one-third of 55 popular brand-name food and beverage products in which HFCS is the first or second highest labeled ingredient, including products by Quaker, Hershey’s, Kraft, and Smucker’s.²

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% above average levels.

“Mercury is toxic in all its forms,” said the IATP’s David Wallinga, MD, and a coauthor 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 9 of 20 samples of commercial HFCS. Dufault was working at the US Food and Drug Administration when the tests were done in 2005. She and coauthors 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 HFCS-containing 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 it, 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 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 % of chlorine production was mercury-free, but just 40% of European production was mercury-free. Four US 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.

Notes

1. Dufault R, LeBlanc B, Schnoll R, et al. Mercury from chlor-alkali plants: measured concentrations in food product sugar. Environ Health. 2009;8:2. Available at: http://www.ehjournal.net/content/8/1/2.

2. Wallinga D, Sorensen J, Mottl P, Yablon B. Not so sweet: missing mercury and high fructose corn syrup [document online]. Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy. Jan. 6, 2009. http://www.healthobservatory.org/library.cfm?RefID=105026.