'Sugar' Seeks Sweet Revenge For 'High Fructose Corn Sugar' Ads

LOS ANGELES (CBS) — A not-so-sweet battle is heading into a local courtroom Wednesday. The manufacturers of high fructose corn sugar (HFCS) are trying to dodge a lawsuit filed by the cane and beet "real sugar" growers.

The lawsuit accuses the HFCS manufacturers of waging a $50 million advertising campaign that falsely portrays high fructose corn sugar as a natural product, no different than sugar.

According to the plaintiffs, a group of cane and beet sugar farmers, the hearing is an important battle to protect nutrition-minded American consumers from false advertising paid for by agribusiness giants like Archer, Daniels, Midland (ADM), Cargill and others. They said that their long-term goal is to secure a court order blocking the misleading ads.

That ad campaign - still going on - was launched amid growing public concerns about links between HFCS and health problems, including childhood obesity.

Last year, U.S. District Court Judge Consuelo Marshall reviewed the preliminary evidence and ruled the plaintiff sugar farmers had demonstrated "a reasonable probability of success" in proving their case against the HFCS producers.