Corn refining produces hundreds of products with thousands of uses, giving the industry an essential role in our everyday lives. It’s a versatile resource that can be used for just about everything – from making our food taste better and our cosmetics last longer, to making our cars safer and our medicines easier to swallow.

The kernel of innovation is everywhere – including in our office! Explore all the products corn is in below:


Frozen Beverage Concentrates

High fructose corn syrup has a lower freezing point, so concentrated juices are ready to pour and mix straight from the freezer.

Hair Styling

Corn syrup helps haircare products retain moisture while citric acid from corn is used to control pHbalance. Corn starch in dry shampoos binds with natural oils and reduces grease.

Gypsum Plaster in Drywall

Cornstarch in gypsum plaster helps bind drywall materials, and is found on the interior walls of most homes and offices.

Golf Tees

By some estimates, U.S. golfers use 2 billion tees each year. Tees made from bioprocessed cornstarch biodegrade in soil faster than wood or plastic.

Frozen Pizza

Modified cornstarch prevents soggy pizza crust by keeping the moisture in the sauce, where it belongs.

Dynamite

The U.S. military uses cornstarch in its formula for dynamite. Additional details are classified.

Food Packaging: Foam

Eggs and meats often have foam packaging – a resin which can be made by bioprocessing cornstarch.

Food Packaging: Plastic

Polylactic acid (PLA), a biodegradable plastic made from cornstarch, is used to create containers for edible items, like salads, fruits, and vegetables.

Fireworks

Fireworks use cornstarch to increase their burn time and to give them their explosive quality.

Fish Feed

Threonine, an essential amino acid, improves digestibility of protein and growth rates, while reducing nitrogen released into the environment.

Foundry Operations

When shaping hot, liquid metals for industrial uses, cornstarch is often used as a binding agent to give strength to the molds and cores.

Hard Plastics for Consumer Goods

From laptop computer shells to wireless phone cases, cornstarch-based bioplastics are replacing petroleum-based plastics.