Is high-fructose corn syrup made using hazardous microbes?

Factual Questions
1

This thread is not about any connection, or alleged connection, between high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) and obesity, so let’s leave that for another topic, please.

The specific question I have: a friend told me she researched “how HFCS is made” (on the internet) and was horrified to learn that it’s not only disgusting but potentially dangerous.

She claimed that (once it’s a liquid slurry) it’s made in a series of stages of biochemical decomposition/digestion using:

  1. aspergillus, the fungus/mold associated with aspergillosis
  2. streptococcus bacteria
  3. some other hazardous bacteria in a third step (either she didn’t name it or I forgot)

Also that it’s almost certainly genetically modified corn.

I guess it’s possibly GMO corn, although I have my doubts that “80% of everything we eat is now GMO”, as one website claims, merely because I’ve seen how resistant to change big companies are.

But would the companies really use potentially dangerous fungus and known disease-causing bacteria to process food? Isn’t that just asking for a lawsuit, if nothing else?

There’s a site here that looks like industry feel-good pap, and of course uses “enzymes” instead of saying “disease-causing bacteria”. I’m sure the industry isn’t above some bland labeling like that.

There’s a site here that “exposes” HFCS manufacture, and it sounds like it might be the source for what my friend researched. I don’t see a reference to strep bacteria per se on that site, however.

It is possible my friend read that site, and misunderstood or exaggerated the horrors involved.

I have a hard time believing that HFCS is really waste byproducts of toxic mold and strep throat, but if it is true, I’d like to avoid it. And if not, I’d like to be able to show my friend the Straight Dope.

Thanks,

Sailboat

2

Oy. Aspergillus is a genus of mold. Some members are useful (http://botit.botany.wisc.edu/toms_fungi/feb97.html), some are potentially toxic. It’s as simple as that.

Ask your friend if she’s worried about the yeast in bread because she occasionally gets yeast infections.

3

Followup questions:
Are some Aspergillus members both useful and potentially toxic??

If so… are they used, and what precautions are taken to prevent anyone from being harmed from their use?

(Not trying to be snarky, just curious.)

4

Cornstarch is not exposed directly to bacteria and fungi in order to create HFCS. It is exposed to purified enzymes that are extracted from industrial-scale colonies of bacteria and fungi. The fungal cells are cultured in a bioreactor of some sort; induced to produce the desired enzyme by controlled manipulation of their envirnment (diet, temp, oxygen levels, etc.), and the enzyme is then extracted, concentrated, and purified.

Think of insulin. In the old days it was extracted from pig pancreases, but eventually genetic modification of bacteria was performed so that bacterial cells produced human insulin protein under certain conditions. This insulin can be extracted from vats of bacterial culture and purified to use in human patients. Would a patient turn down insulin because it came from filthy bacteria? As a matter of fact, it’s from E. coli bacteria - and E. coli can cause deadly diarrheal illness! Granted, the enzymes in question here are not a lifesaving medication, but they are just as pure in their final form as the insulin. Another example would be chymosin, extracted from genetically modified yeast, which is used in commercial cheesemaking as a substitute for rennin extracted from calf stomachs. This is a pure chemical product that coagulates milk proteins, and should not be confused with the fungal/bacterial strains that are purposely introduced to the curd to give various cheeses their characteristic flavor.

While the description of fungal colonies floating in liquid may be technically correct, they are totally separate from the HFCS production line. You might as well point out that the Aspergillus is actually Aspergillus niger, and condemn the whole process because it exploits the labor of minority fungus. :stuck_out_tongue:

This will likely not change your friend’s mind about HFCS, though. I am not saying that there are no legitimate reasons to be upset about the prevalence of HFCS in processed food; but groudless fears about vats of rotting cornstarch should not be on the list. Also, while the corn may be genetically modified, and one could object to that, I fail to see how modification of a bacterial enzyme to be stable up to, say, 70[sup]o[/sup] C would be worrisome, unless you just object to genetic modification on principle. In which case you probably don’t eat cheese or get vaccinations or take insulin.

5

And yet somehow, its cheaper to do this than to use sugar…amazing.

6

I’ve heard that this is due to sugar subsidies, price controls, or other market interventions. Can someone provide the Straight Dope on this?

7

Do you think it’s somehow easier to make sugar? :confused:
You know sugar comes either as a beet or a cane that’s much harder to grow than corn, more expensive to process and probably has more steps in the process.

8

We could stop using somwthing as gross as HFCS or cane sugar, and go back to the sweetener our ancient ancestors used: bee vomit.

9

Sugar is easy to make from cane which is easy to grow if you have the right climate and cheap labor. There are a lot of countries eager to grow sugar cane but few can make a go of it because of the intense competition which drives the world price down to $0.11/lb. http://sugaronline.com/#

We use HFCS in the U.S. because the government stricly restricts the importation of sugar which keeps the price high. For all you every want to know about the sugar market, see http://www.fas.usda.gov/htp/sugar/sugar.html#Price

10

Thank you for this - I knew the sugar thing was somehow “political”.