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The presence of mercury in corn syrup was a health controversy that arose due to two studies that found that mercury residues in high-fructose corn syrups (HFCS) used in food products.[1][2] This was significant due to the toxic nature of mercury and its association with learning disabilities and heart disease.[3][4][5]

History of analyses

Analyses by three different research groups between 2009-2010 found mercury in high fructose corn syrup or food products containing high fructose corn syrup.[1][2][6] The first major study was led by United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) whistleblower Renee Dufault,[7] who began her research while serving as an Environmental Health Officer (EHO) at the FDA in 2004.[8][9][10] Dufault left the agency to publish her findings, which were made public a year after she left the FDA.[1][3][11] High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) samples were collected by an FDA field investigator without warning from three separate corn refiners during the week of February 17-24, 2005.[1][8] Of the twenty samples analyzed, mercury residues were found in nine and the results of the study were published in the peer reviewed journal Environmental Health in 2009.[1]

In a follow-up study led by David Wallinga at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP), fifty-five foods with HFCS listed as the first or second ingredient, were analyzed for mercury.[2] Of the fifty-five products, mercury was detected in seventeen samples and the results were published in an institutional report in January 2009.[12][2][13] In response, the Corn Refiners Association commissioned the independent Eurofins Central Analytical Laboratory to test HFCS from every producer in the US and Canada.[14] Eurofins reported finding no quantifiable mercury in any of the samples they tested.[14] Their results were reviewed by a leading mercury researcher and director of a toxicology program at Duke University Medical Center who said that HFCS does not appear to measurably contribute to the mercury content in foods.[14]

A smaller study led by Karen Rideout of the National Collaborating Centre for Environmental Health in Canada was published in 2010 as a comment to the Dufault study.[6] Rideout’s team collected nine Canadian national brand syrup products containing HFCS (known as glucose-fructose) as the first or second ingredient from major chain grocery stores in Vancouver. The amount of HFCS present in the syrup products was unknown.[6] All of the samples collected by Rideout’s team were analyzed for mercury and concentrations ranged from 0.220 -1.92 ug/l.[6]

Known sources of mercury in high-fructose corn syrup

The presence of mercury in HFCS has been attributed to the use of mercury-grade caustic soda and mercury-grade hydrogen chloride in the corn syrup manufacturing process.[1][2][15] Both chemicals are found to contain mercury residues when derived from the mercury-cell chlor-alkali chemical manufacturing process.[16][17] Another source of the mercury residue in HFCS, however, is the routine application of mercuric chloride (0.01 M) on the corn during the starch extraction process.[18]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Dufault, Renee; LeBlanc, Blaise; Schnoll, Roseanne; Cornett, Charles; Schweitzer, Laura; Wallinga, David; Hightower, Jane; Patrick, Lyn; Lukiw, Walter J. (2009-01-26). “Mercury from chlor-alkali plants: measured concentrations in food product sugar”. Environmental Health. 8 (1) 2. Bibcode:2009EnvHe…8….2D. doi:10.1186/1476-069X-8-2. ISSN 1476-069X. PMC 2637263. PMID 19171026.
  2. ^ a b c d e “Not So Sweet: Missing Mercury and High Fructose Corn Syrup” (PDF). Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy. January 2009.
  3. ^ a b “US researchers find traces of toxic mercury in high-fructose corn syrup”. The Guardian. 2009-01-27. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2025-01-02.
  4. ^ Hemmelgarn, Melinda (2009-02-04). “Is mercury lurking in high-fructose corn syrup?”. Columbia Daily Tribune. Retrieved 2025-01-02.
  5. ^ “Elemental Mercury and Inorganic Mercury Compounds: Human Health Aspects” (PDF). www.who.int. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 27, 2013.
  6. ^ a b c d Rideout, K.; Sahni, V.; Copes, R.; Wylie, M.; Kosatsky, T. (2010-07-21). “Comment on the paper by Dufault et al.: mercury in foods containing high-fructose corn syrup in Canada”. Environmental Health. 8: 2. doi:10.1186/1476-069X-8-2. PMC 2637263. PMID 19171026.
  7. ^ “Federal food safety employees win whistleblower protection”. FoodNavigator.com. 2012-11-15. Retrieved 2025-01-02.
  8. ^ a b Philpott, Tom (2009-02-21). “Why is the FDA unwilling to study evidence of mercury in high-fructose corn syrup?”. Grist. Retrieved 2025-01-02.
  9. ^ Wenner, Melinda (July–August 2009). “Corn Syrup’s Mercury Surprise”. Mother Jones. Retrieved 2025-01-02.
  10. ^ Truthout (2018-09-01). “Corporate Food Brands Drive the Massive Dead Zone in the Gulf of Mexico”. EcoWatch. Retrieved 2025-01-02.
  11. ^ “ATSU News | Don’t sugarcoat it”. www.atsu.edu. A.T. Still University. Retrieved 2025-01-02.
  12. ^ “Mercury in High Fructose Corn Syrup? – CBS News”. www.cbsnews.com. 2009-01-30. Retrieved 2025-01-02.
  13. ^ “Toxic metal: Mercury found in corn syrup”. Die Welt. 2009-01-28. Retrieved 2025-01-02.
  14. ^ a b c “New findings challenge studies linking mercury to HFCS – CRA”. FoodNavigator-USA.com. 2009-03-23. Retrieved 2025-01-02.
  15. ^ Stakal, Kimberley (2024-09-10). “Do You Really Know Just How Nasty High Fructose Corn Syrup Is?”. Organic Authority. Retrieved 2025-01-02.
  16. ^ Fiegl, Amanda (2009-01-28). “Sugar-coated Mercury Contamination”. Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 2026-02-15.
  17. ^ “Environmental Issues within the Chlor-Alkali Manufacturing Industry –Mercury Cell Process”. Bulletin of University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca. December 2012 – via researchgate.net.
  18. ^ Guzmán-Maldonado, Horacio; Paredes-López, Octavio; Biliaderis, Costas G. (September 1995). “Amylolytic enzymes and products derived from starch: A review”. Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition. 35 (5): 373–403. Bibcode:1995CRFSN..35..373G. doi:10.1080/10408399509527706. ISSN 1040-8398. PMID 8573280.