Does all of the corn go to ethanol? I would think at a minimum they would take the oil out first. I would also think that there would still be parts left over for animal feed after they take out the HFCS?
FIFY
http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.html?programID=13-P13-00008&segmentID=4
"40% of the corn that's produced goes into Ethanol plants."
So, an abundant corn crop should mean lower gas prices. But we all know it don't work like that, don't we?
Does all of the corn go to ethanol? I would think at a minimum they would take the oil out first. I would also think that there would still be parts left over for animal feed after they take out the HFCS?
I do know that the 40% of corn produced for Ethanol use is heavily subsidized by Uncle Sam. But I am unaware if there is a way to recycle the left over corn mash for food after it is used for Ethanol purposes, other than to use it for fertilizer.
HFCS is produced by milling corn (maize) to produce corn starch, then processing that starch to yield corn syrup, which is almost entirely glucose, and then adding enzymes that change some of the glucose into fructose.
It would seem that they would have no need for, and can easily remove the corn oil. Not too mention the hull(fiber) and proteins?
Found this:
http://www.madehow.com/Volume-4/Corn-Syrup.html
The softened kernels are passed through coarse grinding mills to remove the inner portion of the kernel, called the germ, which contains most of the corn oil. Each mill has one stationary and one rotating disk. The clearance between the two disks is adjusted to tear the kernel apart without crushing the germ.
So they still have the oil and the germ which is high in protein for cattle feed.
So, food prices went up last year because of poor crops... so we'll see the prices go back down this year right? RIGHT? *sigh*
Just googled that one bushel of corn = 70lbs...I paid like $5 a dozen last weekend, man, I feel like I got ripped off.
fyi its a myth that most corn grown in the US is inedible. Yellow dent corn, the predominant variety which is used to make HFCS and animal feed is perfectly ok to eat. It just doesn't taste very good since it has a high starch, low sugar makeup and a very thick hull.
Some people will eat yellow dent corn when its still young as it still tastes ok. Some farmers grind up yellow dent corn to cook with.
I find it highly unlikely that processors of yellow dent corn, which is used for both animal feed and the making of ethanol, would not want to use the germ for edible vegetable oil and protein for cattle feed when that would seem to be the most valuable use.
I'd be happy if we stopped putting this shit in our gasoline.
I don't get the whole corn fascination, to be honest. Yeah, it's great when you're a kid and you don't want to touch anything else, or occasionally at a barbeque. All the same...I do hope food prices go down, but I doubt they will because our economy isn't about lowering prices for anyone...
HFCS was the single biggest reason soda companies have marketed, and the public has embraced, soda as a replacement for water. Many people rarely drink tap water anymore and have substituted soda instead.
Oh, and the companies that make soda spend hundreds of millions of dollars every year lobbying against any money being spent on public water systems across the US. In fact in my little town, about 10 years ago, the town wanted to buy a farm that was up for sale and was draining pollutants into the water supply. It would have cost 250k. The soda companies, it turned out, spent 1 million dollars to lobby against it.
I got some shocking news for you, soda had been around for over 100 years and they simply used sugar instead of HFCS, HFCS just lowers the cost of making soda. There is also (if you haven't noticed) dozens of low-calorie sodas on the market and some are not that bad tasting and are also huge sellers for the beverage industry, your story of beverage Co.'s lobbying against water are pure fantasy as well, they do nicely selling bottled water to the idiots who are stupid enough to buy it.
I'd be happy if we stopped putting this shit in our gasoline.