I mega-loathe high-fructose corn syrup. Not sure why they are on the "endangered" list. I wish it was banned!

Food bans seem kind of stupid to me. On the other hand, Americans seem to be unable to regulate their own nutritional intake, resulting in us getting fatter and fatter, so maybe the government needs to do it for us?

As an aside, if high-fructose corn syrup is banned in San Francisco, what will happen to all of the sodas? Will they go back to using cane sugar for San Franciscan sodas? Because that would be awesome.

But..but...horse meat is SOOO delicious! Goes great with dolphin steak and some bald eagle pate...

San Francisco wants to ban high fructose corn syrup? Well, that should make shopping there easy since all they would have left in the store is the meat, produce and cleaning supply sections. Until they figure out how to put HFCS in fresh produce, at least. Pretty much every other product in the store would be banned.

Why ban horsemeat? Anyone?

@Megatenist: Horses aren't endangered species.

If people want to drink raw milk, I say let them drink raw milk. But having driven a milk truck around to various farms to collect milk, I can assure you that you don't want to ever drink raw milk. Ever watch Dirty Jobs?

I've already banned HFC from my life. Unfortunately, it is coming down to a few juices that can be purchased at Costco and sodas made for sale during Passover. Otherwise, slim pickings because you can't even order things like sweetened tea any longer -- they all have that damned HFC.

Shark Fins? What have I been eating in shark fin soup at Chinese restaurants then?

@kylenalepa:
You can still get the pure sugar cane version of Dr. Pepper in Texas. It's pretty good stuff.

@Pennsylvanian123: There's a fair amount of HFCS products (like soda) that have cane-sugar varieties that aren't too hard to find. They'd just have to import them. The cost would go up, but if one of the bigger cities in the nation banned HFCS, maybe others would follow.

Major kudos to San Francisco for trying to eradicate what is one of the most disgusting substances still considered legal in the U.S.

@Victo: Anglophiles are generally quite skittish about eating horse, despite it being popular in a lot of other places (e.g. France, Scandinavia and Japan). I had basashi in Kyushu and I've got to say, it was quite good.

@mcs328: There several sharks species. Some are commercially ''farmed'' for food. As fas as I know, those shark fins come from small ''everyday'' sharks, which are not really dangerous to humans anyway.

Only endangered ones are prohibited.

Although not exactly banned, Miracle Fruit is another item that the government has consistently kept out of our hands. Eat just one berry, and it makes even the sourest foods taste amazingly sweet for up to an hour afterward. Sour cream tastes like cheesecake, and lemons are practically candy-like. Unless you're growing your own plants, the berries spoil too quickly to ship by any means other than FedEx. Decades ago, companies teased out the active ingredient (miraculin) and turned it into a food additive, but the FDA could never be moved to approve its use.

You want HFCS to go away real fast?

End corn subsidies. That'll do it.

Monsanto's frankenfoods have been shown to kill bee populations and these nine are banned?

Clearly, people's health is not behind the decisions of what to ban except for shark fins, and that may only be due to concerns for their numbers; if the rich ever acquire a taste for it, watch it come off the list.

I've banned HFC too! Power to the people.

It's easy to avoid HFC if you shop at Whole Foods or Trader Joe's (assuming the funds necessary).

@Pennsylvanian123: It hard to avoid but not impossible. My GF has a hard time digesting HFCS and still manages to find many products without.

I second what mcs328 said about shark fins. Walk into any good Chinese restaurant you'll see shark fin soup on the menu (or heck - try an Asian supermarket - there are huge dried shark
fins on display in the one in my old neighborhood).

And - Absinthe - there's also a loophole if you're into the really toxic variety. Buy it from an overseas distributer and you can get any brand you want (that's what I did).

RE: Absinthe

Newsweek just did a thing about how 'classic' absinthe (what Toulouse-Lautrec would have drunk) doesn't actually have a level of thujone that would be considered illigal today. But it was 140 proof, which would cause hallucinations in just about anyone, regardless of the inclusion of thujone.

[www.blog.newsweek.com]

Oh, and if San Francisco actually does ban HFCS, I'd expect Jones Soda and Hansen's Soda to suddenly become very, very popular there. Those are the only two brands I know of that still use actual sugar in their sodas.

Another food banned in the US: Kinder Surprise Eggs.

[en.wikipedia.org]

@Mayor McRib: Yeah, I live in Texas and buy the imported Mexican Coca-Cola whenever I can. Half a liter, a glass bottle, and cane sugar? Delicious!

@zentec: But I think that's precisely why they should ban HFC from all things in the US. Since it will be outlawed it will force the food industry to reinventing another less harmful (hopefully) substance to do the same things that HFC is used for now adays. Hopefully by then we can get everything we have today but not have to flip over the labels to see if it has HFC and it will eventually make us go blind like that fat guy did on discovery channel. He drank 2 litres of soda a day.

Yet another reason to be in love with San Francisco.....

@mcs328: RTFA ;-)

We are HFCS-free here, too. It's not simple to do but it is possible. You do have to read each and every label for all the products you buy. My kids are still pissed that Capri-Sun and GoGurt is banned at our house but I told them tough shit.

Ban High-fructose corn syrup! And anything high in saturated fats! And the entire chip and soda/pop aisle. Ok well that's not going to happen--people just need to learn and *want* to shop and eat smarter!

Do they have to mark it as "high fructose corn syrup" or can it also be listed as just "corn syrup" or "fructose/glucose" or even just "sugar" (in Canada here...)? I'm never sure when looking at labels--either I don't look at many things with HFCS or else they're not labeled properly in the ingredients list! Or is anything sweet likely to have HFCS?

When shopping I always try to remember...
"Eat Food
Not Too Much
Mostly Plants"

Another food item banned in the US: Kinder Surprise Eggs!

[en.wikipedia.org]

@Nelsormensch: I ate raw horse in Japan. It was, uh, interesting. I don't really remember the taste very much, just that it was cold.

Here's a list of foods with no High-Fructose Corn Syrup: [highfructosehigh.com]

I hope they don't mind my putting a link to my own site here, since it's on-topic!

@Ftp1423: Well, drinking a 2 liter of pure cane sugar soda a day isn't going to make you blind, but it won't do you any favors either.

HFCS is dangerous, but so is anything in excess.

@VA_White: Capri Sun has an All Natural line with no HFCS

@Victo: Last (?) year there was a brouhaha in IL about a slaughterhouse/rendering works near DeKalb IL, one of the few in the state/country that handles old horses. (sorry, details are fuzzy). Someone got ALL bent out of shape about it and the next thing you know, the illinois legislature, having solved all other problems, banned the sale of horsemeat in Il.

voila, democracy in action

@datapants: If it's really that good, why haven't we seen this elsewhere (y'know, where the FDA *doesn't* have authority)?

cali make me laugh. they ban unhealthy foods, but legalize weed. so what will people eat when they get the munchies? - tofu bars?

@tempest: That was gonna be my nomination!

@nomatteus: High-Fructose Corn Syrup can also be labelled as "modified corn starch" and "modified food starch." But not "corn syrup" or fructose or glucose. The "high-fructose" part of the descriptor is because they have severely upped the fructose portion of the corn syrup with an enzyme. Also, "modified corn starch" and "modified food starch" can also be other things besides high-fructose corn syrup. That's the problem with labelling these days - It's still really hard to know what is in a product just by reading the label. Vagueness is allowed.

@HeartBurnKid:

Actually, the better way would be to end sugar import tariffs, but ending corn subsidies wouldn't hurt.

@Victo: Because horses are our friends. And you can ride them places, like cars. You wouldn't eat a Buick, would you? Actually, the idea of horse eating doesn't bother me.

@Pennsylvanian123: "Until they figure out how to put HFCS in fresh produce, at least..." How about a chilled wedge of iceberg lettuce drizzled with pancake syrup and topped with some diced supreme of grapefruit (this actually sounds edible)? Or, stir-fry broccoli and garlic with soy, HFCS, ginger, a few dashes of hot sauce, and some sliced meat (horse, buffalo or elk).

@Victo: Horsemeat was banned in Illinois after a brouhaha erupted over one of the very few places that will dispose of old horses, near DeKalb. They took glue horses and butchered them. Someone made a big hairy dealio out of it, akin to "think of the CHILdren!!" The Illinois State Legislature, having solved all other problems, assured that would not be allowed to happen any more. Now there's no place to get rid of old horses, at least not in this state. Or something like that.

@nomatteus: Eat Food.

The other option being eating not-food? Not eating at all? What?

I did not know that little legal bit about absinthe. Good to know next time I meet some idiot goth clucking on about how they found the stuff. (Disclaimer: I used to be a "goth." Never gave a $%^& about absinthe. Most goths have more fads than "normal" people.)

@JustThatGuy3: That's not a bad idea. In fact, do both; end sugar import tariffs, and end corn subsidies to compensate for the loss of revenue.

Maybe then, not only can we get rid of HFCS, but we can also stop the ridiculous, wasteful practice of trying to make ethanol from corn, when there are so many options that are so much better suited (switchgrass, sugar beets, etc).

@HeartBurnKid: Whole Foods makes "store brand" sodas that are made with actual sugar - no diet versions of the sodas, since they try to keep it as natural as possible.

they missed the important one - Cuban Cigars

Virgil's Root Beer uses real sugar, as do many of the "microbrew" sodas available at your average BevMo.

If coke would just start making the pure sugar version and selling it in easier to find places I would pay double the price. It tastes better and HFCS makes me rather ill.

I thought it was sweet when Chicago banned foie gras, but I don't understand the horse meat thing. Foie gras is ducked up because producing it is so cruel, but horse slaughter? Like, pigs are as smart as horses... What's the dif?

Kangaroo meat is banned as well (some states if not the whole US).