When I first started eliminating corn from my kids’ diets, to help solve their persistent health issues, I was feeling pretty pleased with myself. I figured I had already done most of the work by focusing on whole, fresh, home-cooked foods and cutting out most of the “processed stuff". I thought, “This isn’t so bad. I would rather they did not eat that processed junk anyway." And then, I really dug deep, and found out I was in trouble.

And I mean: everywhere. Don’t forget that we taxpayers have agreed for decades to send Billions of our tax dollars to support “farmers" via agricultural subsidies. Ha. Please don’t kid yourself that we are actually supporting people who valiantly farm the earth in order to feed the rest of us. Anyone that you might think of as a “farmer" (person) is getting squeezed from every angle by behemoth corporate/industrial agriculture, with the help of ready and willing policy-makers.

According to this 2015 article, referring to research of the Environmental Working Group, "corn farmers account for the majority of [agricultural] subsidies. In the last 15 years, U.S. taxpayers have paid corn farmers more than $77 billion dollars, and 10% of America’s farmers collect more than 75% of the subsidies." The same article, quoting research by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, advises that "$17 billion of the total $260 billion the government spent subsidizing agriculture went to just four common food additives: Corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, corn starch, and soy oils. By comparison, the government spent $261 million subsidizing apples, and even less subsidizing healthy vegetables such as spinach or broccoli."

And since “farmers" are paid to grow corn, as a commodity it is practically free! Hey, check out this cool free stuff that keeps getting pumped into the marketplace! What can we do with it? Well, we can modify it in so many ways, and substitute it for all kinds of real food ingredients, we can feed it to all the animals, and even make plastic food packaging out of it, and personal care and cleaning products, and we can use it in so many unreported ways in the processing of food, medicine and personal care products! The sky’s the limit!

Pretty much all corn is GMO, at this point. If you see “Organic" or “Non-GMO" corn on a label, that is basically impossible except by legislative and marketing magic. And under hundreds of different names, corn is now hiding in what seems like almost every “food" and other product known to the American marketplace. Avoiding it is really hard!

Corn is not one of the 8 top allergens required to be listed on labels—and you can bet that it never will be, as long as current practices do not face widespread challenge. So, you have to do your own research to find out whether a particular ingredient in a particular product is corn-derived. Sometimes, you can find out from a manufacturers website, or from a list someone else has made (see below), but other times you have to contact the company. This is a good idea, since formulations change all the time. Plus, it tells them that people are concerned and want to know about this.

If you are very sensitive or allergic, you should know that in addition to listed ingredients, the wax spray used to make fruits and veggies look shiny may contain corn, as can pesiticides (even “organic" ones), and the gas used to ripen produce, and other treatments used to keep it looking fresh. Production lines are often cleaned with corn starch and other corn-based or corn-containing products. Meats are washed with [generally] corn-derived citric acid before packaging. And the packaging itself is more and more frequently made from corn-based plastic.

If you read this and feel overwhelmed, please remember that informing yourself, perhaps getting pissed off about it, and then mentioning it to others, is a worthwhile and important process. And if you find yourself with an opportunity to speak out in a civic forum, do it! Yeah for you!

Aside from ingredients with “corn" actually in their name (corn starch, corn syrup, corn meal, etc.), the following are almost certain to be made from or contain corn:

Following are some other very common ingredients that are relatively likely to be made from or contain corn:

A few individuals with a lot at stake (a life-threatening allergy to corn, for example) have put in an enormous amount of time and effort to research and record the use of corn in food, medicinal, personal and household products, for the benefit of those who are allergic or sensitive. I owe them a debt of gratitude for the information above, as well as for the list below, which is a non-exhaustive list of other ingredients that could be made from or contain corn.