An article in the Chicago Tribune says a study has found that corn syrup may contain trace amounts of mercury.
A handful of plants across the nation still make the soda and acid by mixing a briny solution in electrified vats of mercury. Some of the toxic metal ends up in the final product, according to industry documents cited in the study.
Corn syrup manufacturers insisted their products are mercury-free. But the study said at least one maker of caustic soda that has used the mercury-based technology listed the corn syrup industry as a client.
"This seems like an avoidable source of mercury that we didn't know was out there," said David Wallinga, one of the study's co-authors and a researcher at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, a Minnesota-based advocacy group.
The researchers cautioned that their study was limited. Only 20 samples were analyzed; mercury was detected in nine.
We would like to see much more testing done to see exactly how much mercury is in corn syrup. High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCP) is found in many food products sold in grocery stores these days. It's already frowned up by nutrition experts like Dr. Weil - see here. The idea that it might also contain mercury is going to make people try and avoid it even more because they don't want mercury poisoning. This seems like something the manufacturers could avoid by not using "electrified vats of mercury" to make corn syrup. However, a statement from the Chlorine Institute suggests that mercury could be found in HFPC no matter how it is made: "It is conceivable that measurable mercury content can be found in high-fructose corn syrup regardless of how it is processed."
