What is it with this ingredient?

High-fructose corn syrup - if you can even call it an ingredient - is in EVERYTHING! I was feeding the girls lunch yesterday and viewing the labels of some canned goods. High-fructose corn syrup was in most of them, even my pickled beets (it was ingredient #2 - after the beets, of course). And it's in my Yoplait Light yogurt. Seriously?