industrial sugar is a cheap filler. it is the rightful role of government to regulate the externalities imposed on consumers by producers that use asymmetries of information to sell adulterated staple foods like "bread" with a large amount of corn syrup in it. it is now necessary for buyers to spend a considerable amount of time and intellectual energy to avoid such things, and that imposes a real cost on consumers. if i want to know whether my food has added sugar, i now have to read the labels of every atomic "ingredient" that i buy, like canned tomatoes, or corn.

i only trade with subway because it is the closest thing to food i can buy at the airport or by the freeway. without consumer access to complete information, i doubt that i will have access to products that are not adulterated with cheap, harmful ingredients.

this seems to me like a canonical example of the sort of case where regulation would make a more efficient market.