Hunt's Ketchup Ditches High-Fructose Corn Syrup

by Sarah Parsons · 2010-05-18 17:30:00 UTC
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Just in time for barbeque season, Hunt's is trying to jump on the sustainable food bandwagon. The condiment maker announced today that it's eliminated high fructose corn syrup from all of its ketchup bottles.

The new condiments come with a label that reads "100% Natural Ketchup." And they're not lyin'. Hunt's ketchup contains only five ingredients now: tomatoes, sugar, vinegar, salt, and spices.

Just for comparison's sake, I grabbed a bottle of ketchup from the company's main competitor (and dominator of the ketchup market), Heinz. Here's what comes stocked in every bottle of Heinz's ketchup (and I quote): "tomato concentrate from red ripe tomatoes, distilled vinegar, high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, salt, spice, onion powder, and natural flavoring." Why you need both high fructose corn syrup and regular corn syrup in ketchup is beyond me.  I'd also like to know what constitutes "natural flavoring"—could that be any more vague?

I'm sure you've all seen those commercials on TV touting that high fructose corn syrup is "fine in moderation" and all. But frankly I just don't buy it. For one, some studies show that high fructose corn syrup causes more weight gain than regular sugar consumption, even when caloric intake is the same. And while I'm not saying regular sugar is good for consumers (it's not), corn syrup is just, well, gooey and gross-looking.

And while the new Hunt's ketchup doesn't go as far as it could in its sustainability efforts (for example, the company could use organic tomatoes instead of conventionally grown produce), it's a step in the right direction. Maybe it will convince Heinz and other condiment producers to ketch-up (ha!).

So what do you think, readers? Is ketchup sans high fructose corn syrup more sustainable than conventional ketchup? Or is the effort just greenwashing?

Sarah Parsons is Change.org's Sustainable Food Editor. Her work has appeared in Popular Science, OnEarth, Audubon and Plenty.

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