Ingredient · Sweetener
High Fructose Corn Syrup
A concentrated liquid sweetener made by converting corn starch to glucose and then partly to fructose. Cheap and easy to formulate with, and it delivers a large amount of added sugar with no fibre or micronutrients.
also known as HFCS, Corn syrup, high fructose, Fructose-glucose syrup
The common grades are HFCS-42 and HFCS-55, named for their fructose percentage. That puts them close to cane sugar's 50/50 split, which is why the sugar-versus-HFCS argument turns less on composition than on quantity and on where it shows up.
The practical concern is ubiquity. Because it is inexpensive and pours, HFCS ends up in categories where nobody expects sweetener at all — breads, sauces, cereals — which makes a daily total easy to underestimate.
Why it’s classified this way
Classified High risk as a cheap, highly concentrated added sugar that raises a product's total sugar load without contributing nutritional value.
References
- FDA GRAS listing
- WHO guideline on free sugars intake