The Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy has discovered that 9 of 20 tested samples of commercial high-fructose corn syrup were contaminated with mercury. The Institute also found that 55 kid-friendly foods and soft drinks contained total mercury, which is any combination of inorganic, organic or metallic mercury. As you can see, there are plenty of products with higher mercury levels than Coke, but the level is still fairly high:
If you are asking yourself how the heck mercury would have gotten into high-fructose corn syrup, here’s a possible answer: mercury-grade caustic soda and hydrochloric acid are primarily used to separate corn starch from the corn kernel, and to adjust the pH level of the process. The contamination seems to occur when mercury-grade caustic soda and outdated mercury cell technology are used in the production of HFCS. The good news is that mercury-contaminated HFCS is a completely avoidable problem, since mercury-free versions of the two reagents are available.
