LOS ANGELES, Calif. — A dispute between the sugar and corn refining industries heated up last month when an unpublished letter written by a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) official surfaced in the media.

The letter, dated July 12, was written by FDA Labeling Director Barbara Schneeman to the Corn Refiners Assoc. (CRA). The FDA still has not released the letter to the public, but according to The Associated Press, Schneeman expressed her concerns about two of the CRA’s websites using the term “high fructose corn syrup” (HFCS) interchangeably with “corn sugar.”

The sugar industry is suing the CRA, Archer Daniels Midland Co., Cargill and other companies over what it describes as false advertising. The defendants in the lawsuit filed a motion to dismiss the case last month, and that is now being considered. The CRA published a position paper on how it views the issue of HFCS and whether it is natural. The paper states corn sweeteners, like sugar and honey, are natural and meet the FDA’s guidelines for how the term “natural” should be used as it applies to foods.

“High fructose corn syrup, corn syrup and crystalline fructose are all made from corn,” the paper says. “High fructose corn syrup, like table sugar, is composed of fructose and glucose. Corn syrup is composed primarily of glucose. Crystalline fructose consists of primarily fructose.

“Fructose and glucose are found in many other naturally-occurring foods. Corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup and crystalline fructose do not contain artificial or synthetic ingredients or color additives.”

It goes on to say these corn sweeteners are made from corn, a “natural grain product,” and are completely consistent with the definition of natural.

Mark Flegenheimer, president of Michigan Sugar Co., one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, doesn’t see it that way. He said sugar has been around for a long time, while corn sweeteners have only been around since the 1960s.

“Our effort is to have the corn industry stop its marketing campaign,” Flegenheimer said. “Their campaign is to try and convince consumers that corn syrup and sugar are the same things. They’ve spent millions of dollars on their campaign. There’s already a product called corn sugar, which is dextrose. Consumers have a right to know what’s in their product.”

He went on to claim the corn refiners are basically trying to confuse consumers about what they’re selling. The lawsuit is asking that the CRA marketing campaign be stopped and they be ordered to pay the sugar industry so it can run a counter-campaign to re-educate consumers about the differences between sugar and corn sweeteners.

“This suit is about false advertising, pure and simple,” said Inder Mathur, president and CEO of Western Sugar Cooperative. “If consumers are concerned about your product, then you should improve it or explain its benefits, not try to deceive people about its name or distort scientific facts.”

According to the sugar industry’s complaint, HFCS is being perceived, rightly or wrongly, as unhealthy and makers of products containing corn sweeteners are replacing HFCS with others kinds of sweeteners. Last year the CRA filed a petition with the FDA to get permission to call HFCS “corn sugar.”

“High fructose corn syrup is a very misleading name,” said David Knowles, a spokesman for the CRA. “For one thing, it isn’t really high in fructose compared with honey or sugar. It was given that name to distinguish it from corn syrup. High fructose corn syrup and sugar are nutritionally the same. Sugar and high fructose corn syrup go through a similar amount of processing.”