Hershey Considering Replacing High-Fructose Corn Syrup With Sugar In Some Products

While some products from Hershey already feature only sugar as a sweetener, like the original Hershey’s chocolate bar, the company says that as more customers are shying away from high-fructose corn syrup, Hershey is considering moving toward sugar for more products in the future.

The chief research and development officer at The Hershey Co. told the Associated Press that right now the company uses a mix of sugar and high-fructose corn syrup, but now it’s “moving more toward sugar” in its products.

“We take into account what consumers want. And consumers are telling us between the two, they prefer sugar,” Will Papa told the AP.

Although there’s not enough evidence to prove that high-fructose corn syrup is any worse for people than regular sugar, some consumers say they avoid it over its reputation for boosting weight gain and diabetes.

Hershey said in a statement that right now it’s in the exploratory phase of possibly replacing corn syrup, a process that “is just under way.” Translation — if corn syrup is going away, Hershey can’t or won’t say when that’ll happen yet.

Right now, Almond Joy, Fifth Avenue, Take 5 and York all use corn syrup, while classic Hershey bars are made with sugar, a rep for the company explains.

“Our aim is to be transparent with our consumers about the ingredients we use in our products. Once we have more information to share, we will be back in touch,” Hershey said in a statement.

Hershey explores removal of corn syrup [Associated Press]

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