The Food and Drug Administration rejected the Corn Refiners Association's bid to change the name of its sweetening agent from high fructose corn syrup to "corn sugar."

Given the sweetener's bad reputation in recent years, the association submitted an application to the FDA in 2010 to have the product renamed on nutrition labels.

But the FDA denied that request Wednesday, saying that it defines sugar as a solid, dried, and crystallized food - not a syrup.

Dan Callister, a lawyer for the Sugar Association, applauded the FDA's move.

"What's going on here is basically a con game to suggest otherwise," Callister said. "What do con men do? They normally try to change their name. The FDA has thankfully stopped that."

But the Corn Refiners Association said the FDA's decision was based on "narrow, technical grounds."