This week in food industry news, several of the major sugar refining companies joined a lawsuit aimed at corn refiners over the use of the phrase "corn sugar."

Corn refiners had originally asked the FDA to allow them to call their widely used sweetener - high fructose corn syrup -- by the term corn sugar instead. Recent (and scientifically unsupported) claims about high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), along with an overall popularity in "natural" products in recent years, have led to lower sales for products featuring HFCS.

The sugar industry wants nothing to do with this. It's likely their concern is that their sales could suffer should corn refiners gain approval and change the name of their product. There is also the possibility that consumers will switch back to corn syrup products, thereby hurting sales for products featuring traditional sugar.

So, is high fructose corn syrup a "natural" product after all?

It is made from natural products, though there is refining involved with its production. Regular corn syrup is made when corn starch is stored in giant vats with natural enzymes that turn the starch into glucose. These sugars are heated and converted to a corn syrup.

High fructose corn syrup requires further refining beyond standard corn syrup. There are extra enzymes added to it, and therefore the ratio of glucose to fructose in HFCS varies. HCFS can feature a 90-10 ratio, a 42-43 ratio, and a 55-45 ratio, depending on the needs of the food manufacturer.

High fructose corn syrup is subsidized as a corn product, leading to cheaper pricing and thus its popularity in recent years. Sugar is taxed as an imported item, which is why substituting sugar for HFCS can be more costly for food manufacturers.

However, sugar companies are enjoying the recent trend away from HFCS to standard sugar. How the lawsuit will play out may very well predict the shape of things to come for them, as well as the corn refining industry.

It's the holy grail of many food manufacturing companies: a microwaveable product that tastes as good as traditionally cooked foods.

It's particularly hard to replicate that "just out of the oven" taste when it comes to baked goods. Most people want their bakery items to be slightly crispy, but microwaving breaded items often leaves them soggy or rubbery.

This is because the microwave oven essentially reverses the cooking method of the traditional oven. Traditional ovens cook food from the outside in, and pull fluids away from foods in the process. Microwave ovens cook food from the inside out, often driving fluids towards the surface of the product and effectively steaming the outer layers.

But according to a new report published in the Journal of Food Science, soy flour may be the solution to this problem.

According to food industry news, replacing 20% of the standard wheat flour with soy flour in microwaveable products lead to "better textual results" when products were cooked from frozen in the microwave.

Breadings or bakery items were less soggy or rubbery, and more likely to retain a crispy texture prized by consumers.

Americans love their convenience foods, and frozen foods are a $56 billion dollar-per-year business, making news like this exciting to say the least.

Since soy flour comes in three types - full-fat, low-fat, and fat-free - food manufacturers can also experiment with different types of soy flour to create the formula that best suits their particular product, and pleases their target demographic.

According to a new study commissioned by the Food Marketing Institute (FMI) almost half of respondents hold food manufacturers responsible for the nutritional content of their foods.

This makes sense. After all, foods considered "healthy" or "nutritious" have become very popular in the last 20 years. Consumers are willing to pay more for foods that they think are better for them, but the implicit understanding is that the foods they are purchasing are actually good for them.

In a world where definitions of "healthy" are constantly evolving, this can be difficult for food manufacturers to manage.

For example, there was a time when white sugar was demonized by low-calorie and low-carbohydrate diets. Now, however, the recent "natural" craze has made standard sugar much more popular than many artificial sweeteners, or even less traditional sweeteners like corn syrup.

This is where wholesale food distributors come in.

Wholesale food distributors that offer fresh products and fast shipping can allow manufacturers the kind of speed and flexibility that the market demands. Many food distributors also feature food "specialists" who can help manufacturers choose the appropriate products, in the right amounts, and get it shipped with greater efficiency.

Finally, American based food distributors can offer their clients a fresher product and faster delivery. And fresh, delicious food is always popular, no matter what kind of trends food manufacturers are facing today.