FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 3, 2015

CONTACT: Andy Resnick

(202) 534-3501

LOS ANGELES, CA – A jury trial in Los Angeles is set to begin today in the long-running lawsuit pitting makers of table sugar against corn refiners who make high-fructose corn syrup. It’s an opportunity for a jury of normal people to hear the truth, weigh the valid scientific evidence and make a decision.  Both sides have claims against the other, and the issue is who actually misled the American consumer.

John Bode, president of the Corn Refiners Association, which represents the defendant companies, said “This litigation has dragged on for years, and is a transparent attempt by the sugar processors to generate publicity for their campaign to misinform consumers on the nutritional equivalence between high fructose corn syrup and sugar. We expect to prove to a jury at trial that The Sugar Association has purposely misled the public to create false health concerns and fear about high fructose corn syrup—all for the purpose of increasing sugar’s market share.

“We are also confident that a jury will determine that CRA and its member companies accurately described high fructose corn syrup during the educational campaign that prompted the sugar companies to start this lawsuit, and the campaign did not cause any damage to the sugar industry.  In fact, it is hard to imagine a less sympathetic group of plaintiffs than the sugar industry plaintiffs in this case, who have achieved record successes (not harm) and who benefit richly from unprecedented government support programs at the expense of taxpayers.”

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 The Corn Refiners Association (CRA) is the national trade association representing the corn refining industry of the United States. CRA and its predecessors have served this important segment of American agribusiness since 1913. Corn refiners manufacture sweeteners, ethanol, starch, bioproducts, corn oil and feed products from corn components such as starch, oil, protein and fiber. www.Corn.org