Use our list to find butters and margarines that are high fructose corn syrup free. Be sure to confirm your selection at the market shelf as some margaine and butter products may change their ingredients.
We urge product manufacturers to adopt the use of our uniform button for placement on their butter or margarine front labels that do not contain high fructose corn syrup but until that time confirm your selections and report any butter or margaine that
may be on our list yet may have slipped the syrup into their ingredients to us by clicking HERE to email us.
BUTTER IS FOR THE MOST PART HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP FREE!
Our research shows that we cannot find a butter that contains High Fructose Corn Syrup, maybe this is due to the definition of butter that is set by the U.S. Code being made of milk with or without cream and may have salt and coloring. There does not appear to be any
space to add sweeteners and still call the product butter. If I am wrong please correct me.
Even most margarines and buttery flavored spreads contain no high fructose corn syrup according to our research. Even though we did find a few, they are few and far between. Personally I shop for butter and look for the simplest of ingredients.
FINDING THE FREE USED TO BE SIMPLE!
Before High Fructose Corn Syrup began sneaking into food products it used to be simple. Products would proudly label themselves caffeine free, saccharin free, sugar free,
gluten free, etc., yet now, the long confusing term of high fructose corn syrup has made trouble. The name high fructose corn syrup is almost as confusing as the syrup itself.
When looking for a caffeine free, gluten free or sugar free product all that we need to do is look at the front label and it is typically proudly announced on the
front "Caffeine Free", etcetera. We adapt to this pattern language and learn what products are without caffeine and instinctively make choices that are correct. As consumers
we have never needed to refer to the item as without caffeine or no caffeine as caffeine free rolled smoothly off of our tongues and the confusion was minimized.
To me it seems simple, I desire to purchase products that are High Fructose Corn Syrup free or HFCS free. I don't think to say that I desire butters and margarines without High
Fructose Corn Syrup or without HFCS, or that do not contain high fructose corn syrup, this seems to be cumbersome and confusing yet others refer to these butters and margarines in this manner. The pattern
language of food product labeling is beginning to go off path, providing further confusion.
Many products proudly announced on their label that they are caffeine free, sugar free, gluten free and other natural substance free. The lack of a front label
announcement for products that are high fructose corn syrup free with a standardized logo such as the HFCS FREE banner button may be due to the fact that High
Fructose Corn Syrup is not natural yet is a highly processed substance.
According to The Atlantic,
the FDA never defining natural for processed food labeling purposes which furthers the confusion. My common sense definition eliminates does not allow high fructose corn syrup as
it is a processed and is no longer a butter and margarine of the earth.
Many processed food manufactures offer several butters and margarines within the same butter and margarine group so making the 'does not contain HFCS' or 'no high fructose corn syrup' or 'high fructose free'
announcement on one label may appear to shame their other butter and margarine offerings that do contain high fructose corn syrup by drawing attention to them. This thought process may adversely
affect their butters and margarines that contain high fructose corn syrup. It breaks down to this, the food manufacturer's industry may be concerned that there will be a backlash
against their butters and margarines. Most butter and margarine
manufacturers do typically respond to public pressure when they see fit to prevent a backlash yet with high fructose corn syrup the manufacturers are in a position that they
feel is unique and are happy with the status quo. They don't understand that many consumers only desire to be able to readily locate the high fructose corn syrup free butter and margarine products that they desire and
are not interested in shaming them for offering other products that do contain HFCS.
So how do we help the manufacturers of butters and margarines that both do and do not contain high fructose corn syrup in their ingredients feel comfortable placing a banner on the front of
their butters and margarines that do not contain the syrup? The precedence that has been set over the last 50 years in butter and margarine labeling should be followed by referring to these butters and margarines as being
high fructose corn syrup free or for short, high fructose free, and HFCS FREE. This is sensible, will eliminate any associated label shame as it is following the pattern language
of the processed food labeling industry.
As consumers we are concerned with the butters and margarines that we consume, we are not looking to start a backlash, we will leave that to the scientists and reporters on television.
Our concern is to easily locate the butters and margarines that we desire to purchase and ensure that butter and margarine options that are high fructose corn syrup free or without high fructose corn
syrup are readily available.
It will not be until consumer demand prompts butter and margarine manufacturers to provide a uniform button label on the front of their butters and margarines in a visible placement that we see this
action happen. As consumers we do not shame butters and margarines that are not organic and do not contain the organic button yet we cherish the butter and margarine options that are proudly labeled
as organic in a readily recognizable format. To be easily informed and be able to quickly make butter and margarine selections by finding foods that are made without high fructose corn
syrup is the goal of HighFructoseFree.com and its list and upcoming search tools.
The concept that the more rare a butter and margarine is, the more value it has to it comes to mind when I search the market shelves for high fructose free butters and margarines. Is there a mindset
that consists in the food producers industry that dictates that limited offerings of butters and margarines that do not contain high fructose corn syrup provide added value to those offerings?
After all, when the list of ingredients is limited to five natural butters and margarines the butter and margarine easily makes it from the market shelf to my pantry without any angst over the slight increase
in price over the alternative. With one limited offering I can be made very happy, especially if I do not have to spend excessive time locating it in the market.
I have heard the phrases butters and margarines that do not contain high fructose corn syrup, butters and margarines with no high fructose corn syrup, butters and margarines free of high fructose corn syrup, high fructose
corn syrup free butters and margarines, butters and margarines without high fructose corn syrup, butters and margarines without the ingredient high fructose corn syrup, butters and margarines that do not contain high fructose corn syrup, butters and margarines that are not
made with high fructose corn syrup, butters and margarines that are not sweetened with high fructose corn syrup and more. Additionally this is sometimes simplified by
using the contraction HFCS in lieu of high fructose corn syrup. This results in a possibly simplified yet probably more complicated terminology resulting in butters and margarines that do not
contain HFCS, or butters and margarines with no HFCS, butters and margarines free of HFCS, HFCS free butters and margarines, butters and margarines without HFCS, butters and margarines without the ingredient HFCS and more.
Terms that I have heard yet are not so global are reduced HFCS or reduced high fructose corn syrup and low HFCS or low high fructose corn syrup.
When a consumer sees the word NO on a label an immediate message is sent, no means no, stop, retreat, do not, etc. The word no has a stand alone meaning that no matter what the remainder
of the statement is the immediate connotation is negative. I recall seeing Hunt's ketchup with a giant corn colored yellow banner across the front that read "No High Fructose Corn Syrup" in a
modern green color. The word NO was underlined on the banner drawing further attention to it. I immediately wondered how this wording slipped through the quality control department? I
understood that the ketchup inside of the bottle was a product that I was looking for yet the NO and the oddly colored yellow banner background lead me to select another high fructose free
ketchup from the shelf. To date the yellow banner is removed from this product yet the word No is still displayed on the Hunt's label.
There never was a class that taught us high fructose corn syrup terminology. In the early 1970's Pre-High Fructose Corn Syrup society sugar was the principle sweetener in the
American diet. With cheap subsidized corn being available sweetener made from corn is now the principle sweetener for processed food butters and margarines and that sweetener is High Fructose
Corn Syrup. Without our knowledge it just sneaked up on us and into almost every food item imaginable. During the 1970's butter and margarine manufacturers discovered that high fructose corn
syrup was a cheap sweetener that could replace natural sugar as a sweetener and profits skyrocketed. Slipping the syrup into the butters and margarines became almost seamless, possibly the
switches were made in increments over time so that the difference in taste was not detected. As in the new coke, classic coke scenario, this may have not been so seamless.
Today food butters and margarines that are manufactured with HFCS are typically high calorie foods which can be sold at cheaper prices due to the abundance of subsidized corn and the
resulting High Fructose Corn Syrup. The recipe was to replace expensive natural ingredients such as sugar with HFCS, the price to produce the butter and margarine was reduced yet the
market shelf price continued to increase and profits soared.
So the jury is in on the proper terminology to use when requesting or discussing high fructose corn syrup. Following the pattern language of the labeling industry and
calling these butters and margarines high fructose corn syrup free should be used to prevent confusion and provide a standard for future discussions and butter and margarine selections.
PRODUCT SUBMISSION
To spotlight your product or add it to our list of high fructose corn syrup free options please send a categorized, itemized list of your items that meet the requrement of being
free of high fructose corn syrup.
Across America and the world there are many roadside attractions involving giant sized food products. There is the giant bottle of soda, oversized fruits, giant milk bottles, hot dogs and burgers and possibly most memorable
is the Giant Donut in Los Angeles known as Randy's Donuts. These attractions are true artistic feats with exacting detail. Possibly the day of the roadside attraction is long lost and people don't care about architecture and interest anymore, in fact
most store owners simply place a plastic vacuum form sign up and they are in business with nothing of interest to say, hey, look at me, we have a spectacular product here, come in and take a look.
What seems to be missing in the world of roadside attractions is the giant stick of butter, or a giant margarine tub. In many hours of research for the Butter Tourism section of this page all I discovered was one oversized butter stick sculpture.
Realizing that people do care about these great works of architecture art I wonder why this simplest form, a simple rectangular structure with appropriate labeling and decoration was left out of americana.
As I close I realize that the art of roadside attractions will return to society, and we will one day be able to visit a building to be known as the worlds largest stick of butter, the label will of course read, High Fructose Corn Syrup Free!