Watch out for potential name change of High Fructose Corn Syrup

The New York Times is reporting today that the Corn Refiners Association is lobbying the United States Food and Drug Administration hard to allow them to change the name of their number one product "High Fructose Corn Syrup" to the simple and sweet sounding "corn sugars." One name defines exactly what it is - a highly processed corn sweetener and the other name describes basically what it is - sugar. One might wonder why we as consumers would need to only know basically what it is rather than exactly what it is and why that would be better for us?

Of course, that is exactly why the Corn Refiners Association is lobbying for the change - a DEEP CONCERN FOR THE CONSUMER. Apparently they have been laying awake at night worrying that we are overly informed in regard to their product and as a result might be denying ourselves something fantastic. Their solution is to give the consumer slightly less information about their product so that we can make better decisions. (Kind of like watching FOX news and then voting.)

"Clearly the name is confusing consumers," said Audrae Erickson, President of Corn Refiners Association. "Research shows that 'corn sugar' better communicates the amount of calories, the level of fructose, and the sweetness in this ingredient."

Apparently we consumers are under the impression that high fructose corn syrup isn't good for us and may pose a danger to our health. Since the Corn Refiners Association disagrees with the consumers assessment of their product (we are just confused), but are still unable to convince us that they are exactly the same as plain sugar, despite big advertising campaigns meant to do so, they have been left no choice but to try to clear it all up with a name change. Just like the cavalry "here they come to save the day."

Has anybody ever heard of a company called AIU Holdings ltd.? They are a mega-large insurance company that recently took millions of tax payer dollars to cover their you know whats. Doesn't sound familiar? Think American International Group or more popularly known as AIG. Apparently the highly payed individuals working at AIG felt consumers might be "confused" if they know who and what they really were so decided to go for the big name change.

It looks like the Corn Refiners Association is following very proud footsteps in the role of looking out for the American consumer. I have to remember to send them a thank you note for their selfless concern.

If you want to weigh in on this with the FDA they have six months to accept or deny the name change petition.

Kohls new ad campaign is snapshot of some of what is going wrong in America

I have written in this space before about the concept of corporate social responsibility. It is an easy concept that unfortunately cannot find any fertile ground in which to grow within the profit-at-all-cost corporate world. In their world corporate citizenship is tied in chains to the profit first mentality.

Does anybody else ever get tired of being asked at a checkout whether you'd like to donate to some cause or another? As if you couldn't possibly give to charity without the help of a corporate giant. Starbucks recently pounced on all of their customers with a "buy a pound of this coffee and we'll donate to charity." Okay, so Starbucks adds $2 to the cost of some coffee they wish to promote, sends $1 to charity and pockets the other all the while touting themselves as do-gooders. Perhaps as a real citizen you could take that $1 and send it directly to your charity and remove the multi-national corporation from the equation.

The latest and most obvious corporate charity shenanigans is Kohl's department stores back-to-school ad. The commercial is glossy and sweet and it is very nice to look at but if the average price of making a national commercial is $350,000 then this puppy must have been in the $1 million range. Now they have to put the commercial on the air where rates start at $100,000 for a 30 second spot and goes up from there.

So why is this relevant? The ad is promoting the companies intention to give $500,000 to one of our cash strapped schools. They have tied it in with their Facebook page where consumers can vote for their favorite school which is a clever use of social media and also a way to drive people to your site. The problem for me is with the math.

Just a brief look at the costs of creating such a slick commercial and then airing it nationally for weeks lets us know that this is roughly a $15 million ad campaign. That means that Kohls is bragging about "giving" $500,000 to a school while they are spending millions to promote themselves. Can you imagine if they turned those numbers around? How about $15 million to our schools and $500,000 on self advertising? Now that would be real corporate citizenship.

There is a lot of talk these days that corporations have plenty of money but they are hoarding it and not hiring people or investing in this country. What would it be like for our schools and our economy to get a $15 million dollar shot in the arm? I'd say pretty good.

But according to ad week the American people are sucking it up. In a survey by Ace Metrix of 500 consumers the Kohls ads scored higher than any of the other back-to-school campaigns currently on the air. "We continue to see "do-good" creative resonating strongly with consumers and Kohl's clearly evoked this sentiment with their "Vote for Your School" campaign," said Peter Daboll, CEO of Ace Metrix. I have to assume he put "do-good" in parenthesis because they're not actually doing much good except to themselves.

I am no socialist and I don't believe that companies should be forced to give their money away or deny them the right to advertise their products. But I draw the line at the hypocrisy of the "do-gooder" ad. It is a false claim. If they really wanted to do good they could just do it and then tell everybody later. I'm pretty sure that a $15 million donation would do more for Kohl's reputation than any ad campaign.

http://www.economist.com/daily/kallery/displaystory.cfm?story_id=16379907

http://www.economist.com/daily/kallery/displaystory.cfm?story_id=16379907

Horror in the Gulf of Mexico

The tragedy that is currently going on in the Gulf of Mexico is going to haunt this country for more years then I care to think about. It is startling to me how many of my fellow citizens fail to understand the absolute catastrophe that this is. Perhaps it is because our press is treating the situation pretty lightly, probably because they are all corporately owned, and if the media isn't hysterical then Americans don't think they have much to worry about.

I can only imagine how freaked out we would all be if a TERRORIST had blown up the oil well in the Gulf that was destroying an eco-system stretching thousands of miles. We would be out for REVENGE! But because it's just another friendly, corporate oil company and because we all realize that we brought it on ourselves we're kind of patting ourselves on the back and calling it a sad accident. Speaking of sad.

And, yes people, this is another chicken coming home to roost from the Bush administration's laissez faire behavior with corporate America. In case you ever wondered what would happen if we allowed the oil companies to pen the United States' energy policy, well wonder no more! Dead miners and dead oil rig workers are just a small price to pay for such enormous profit.

It would be best if we Americans just kept in mind at all times that corporations are sociopaths that our Supreme Court chooses to regard as people! Here are the traits they have in common with human sociopaths who don't have one millionth of the power to inflict hurt:

1. Repeatedly performing acts that are grounds for arrest.(In 2005 BP blew up an oil refinery in Texas City killing 15 people and injuring 170 others).

2. Deceitfulness, repeated lying, use of aliases, conning others for profit. ("Nobody could have anticipated an oil rig accident in the Gulf")

3. Impulsivity or failure to plan ahead. (I think it's called a simple shut off valve that most SANE countries require oil riggers to use - but when the oil companies wrote our energy policy it must have slipped their minds.)

4. Aggressiveness (Wait until the we're so sorry commercials come out and encourage you to buy more gas from them.)

5. Reckless disregard for safety of themselves or others (no need to say more here)

6. Consistent irresponsibility, repeated failure to honor obligations.

7. Lack of remorse, indifference to the suffering of others (within 24 hours had workers sign waivers saying they wouldn't sue.)

Every time you watch a commercial you should keep all of these things in your head, especially #2. Thanks to Pam's House Blend blog for the list of sociopathic tendencies.

While our environment is taking such a beating all the rest of us should do everything we can to keep our own individual impact as slight as possible. No factory farmed meats, reusable grocery bags, etc. Also you should support those that are supporting the people of the gulf coast. Eat Gumbo!

Bush's Chickens are coming home to Roost

Just when I think that I might be going a little overboard worrying about the food we're eating in the United States, something comes up to remind me why I should be paranoid. In another piece of good reporting the New York Times has reported that Kraft, Safeway, Frito-Lay, and B&G foods have been taking bribes from a tomato food processor called SK Foods. According to federal prosecutors the bribes were offered in order to allow SK to sell them tomatoes so full of mold and other defects they would not pass federal tests. Not that we have any kind of inspection system or anything.

This is just another case of the "chickens coming home to roost." For the last decade the party in power didn't believe that business and industry needed to be regulated and so they didn't regulate them. Because as we all know the captains of industry are the most altruistic bunch you are every likely to meet and would no more endanger the American public then drink a martini without an olive, right?

They certainly proved that in the banking industry, unregulated they made a great deal of money for themselves, not so good for the rest of us though. And how can we forget the peanut recall where the product left the farm knowingly contaminated with salmonella and sickened hundreds? Peanuts that were so disgusting that our neighbors Canada refused them entry.

The problem is that inspecting food, airplanes, banks, etc. after the poo has hit the proverbial fan or somebody has died, is like closing the barn door after Elvis has left the building. People enjoy thinking that revelations such as the ammonia in the hamburger of McDonalds & Burger King is an unusual event when in fact basically our entire food industry is self-regulated! It is becoming increasingly evident that unless you know exactly where your food came from it is a total crap shoot.

I visited Krafts website to try and find out exactly how many tomato products they have but was unsuccessful because they have so many brands. But I did find that they consider themselves one of the most trusted names in the food industry. "We've put in place strong food safety and quality systems for our ingredients and our products."

Apparently some of their food brokers didn't get the memo because one of them was recently arrested at a New York airport. Allegedly Robert Watson, a food buyer for Kraft foods, found himself $20,000 short of a fully paid tax bill. So he called his buddy, a tomato broker in California, and asked him for the money. The broker was happy to help out although, being good businessmen, told him it would have to come out of his normal "commissions."

According to the New York Times these tainted shipments involved as many as 55 companies. "In some cases, companies detected problems and sent the product back - but in many cases, according to prosecutors, they did not, and the tainted ingredients wound up in food sold to consumers." That doesn't leave me feeling warm and fuzzy about the food industry.

The good news is we have access to farmers markets. The bad news is that Redmond Saturday market doesn't start until May. In the meantime, buy fresh and local as much as you can. At least you can see if your tomatoes are rotten.