History

High fructose corn syrup is a product of the 20th century, but the search for ways to sweeten our foods and beverages has a long history.

The English blockade of France during the Napoleonic wars led directly to the commercial development of two new sweetener technologies—the widespread cultivation of sugar beets, which now compete with sugar cane as a major source of sugar, and the discovery that starch found in grain and roots could be turned into a sugar by treating it with acid.

Since the invention of starch-based sweeteners in the early 1800s, researchers tried to develop a starch-based sweetener that was as sweet as cane or beet sugar, but to no avail. Despite their efforts, the products they developed failed to achieve comparable ways to break down (hydrolyze) starch molecules into its core glucose molecule. However, they were limited by the intrinsic differences in sweetness between glucose and sucrose from sugar cane or beets – a combination of glucose and fructose.

The first commercial shipment of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) took place in 1967. The product was a syrup with a fructose content of around 15 percent. Further research enabled the industry to develop a higher conversion and the first commercial shipment of HFCS-42 or 42 percent fructose syrup took place a year later. During the late 1970s, the commercialization of chromatographic enrichment systems allowed concentration of fructose to 90 percent or higher. Subsequent blending with 42 percent fructose syrup led to the development of HFCS-55. By the mid-1980s, HFCS-55 became the sweetener of choice for the soft drink industry in the U.S.

Despite its economical benefits, initially food processors were reluctant to accept the new sweetener as a replacement for sucrose. HFCS manufacturers had to demonstrate to soft drink manufacturers, bakers, canners and others that using the new corn syrup in their products would both reduce their ingredient costs and preserve, if not increase, product quality.

While price may have been a factor in food manufacturers’ choice in sweeteners more than 20 years ago, U.S. food manufacturers’ continued use of high fructose corn syrup is mainly based on function and benefit rather than its price relative to sugar.