Hi all, I know that HMF in HFCS has been discussed in the past, but I  
saw this new research:

High-fructose corn syrup is not just an ingredient in many human  
foods. Beekeepers also feed it to their pollinators to encourage  
colony growth or when nectar is scarce. But dehydration of fructose  
can lead to formation of trace amounts of hydroxymethylfurfural  
(HMF), a key biomass-derived chemical that happens to be toxic to  
honeybees. A group of researchers has now evaluated HMF formation in  
stored corn syrup and its impact on bee mortality (J. Agric. Food  
Chem., http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jf9014526). Led by Blaise  
W. LeBlanc, formerly of USDA’s Carl Hayden Bee Research Center, in  
Tucson, Ariz., and Gillian Eggleston of USDA’s Southern Regional  
Research Center, in New Orleans, the team found that HMF  
concentrations increased with time in stored corn syrup, depending on  
temperature, pH, and possibly the presence of manganese, which is  
known to catalyze HMF formation in honey. They also found that bee  
mortality increased significantly when the insects were fed corn  
syrup containing 250 ppm HMF, compared with 57–200 ppm. The results  
should be useful to beekeepers evaluating how to safely store corn  
syrup, the researchers say.

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