When is corn syrup corn sugar? When food and beverage processors persuade the government to let them call it that. The Food and Drug Administration is considering a petition by the Corn Refiners Association to allow high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), which has become a bugaboo in the obesity debate, to be referred to on packaging as “corn sugar.” The National Consumers League is having none of that; the group has filed formal comments with FDA opposing the change. “Regardless of where you stand on the debate over high-fructose corn syrup and its effects on our waistlines and our health, changing the name after decades of use is unfair to consumers,” says Sally Greenberg, the league’s executive director. The Corn Refiners Association filed its petition last fall, and the FDA’s decision process is expected to take up to two years.