In Australia, Bone Char was historically used to refine and decolourise sugar, and most, if not all sugar refineries used bone char in their practice. Read more here.
Bone char, which is used to process sugar, is made from the bones of cattle from Afghanistan, Argentina, India, and Pakistan. The bones are sold to traders in Scotland, Egypt, and Brazil who then sell them back to the U.S. sugar industry. The European Union and the USDA heavily regulate the use of bone char.
Yes! Sugar that is derived from sugarcane is processed with animal bones, however, the resulting product is chemically free of char. Sugar derived from beets does not require filtration through animal bones and is considered vegan.
At the sugar refinery, the crystals are melted and ultra violet light or activated charcoal is used to remove any impurities. The crystals are then washed and spun in a dryer (called a centrifuge) to remove the molasses.
Yes, white sugar is vegan. It is made from sugar cane or sugar beet, and does not contain any animal products.
In Australia, Bone Char was historically used to refine and decolourise sugar, and most, if not all sugar refineries used bone char in their practice. Read more here.
Typically, sugar is made from sugarcane, sugar beets, or coconuts. Beet and coconut sugar are never processed with bone char.
Called “natural charcoal” by the sugar industry, cow bones are incinerated at 700 degrees Celsius for twelve hours or more, producing a granular substance. When used as a crude filter for raw sugar, it bleaches it white. There are alternatives to bone char for sugar filtering, such as reverse osmosis and ion exchange.
The Australian sugar industry produces raw and refined sugar from sugarcane. Around 95 per cent of sugar produced in Australia is grown in Queensland and about five per cent in northern New South Wales, along 2,100 km of coastline between Mossman in far north Queensland and Grafton in northern New South Wales.
Raw Sugar. Raw sugar is granulated, but as the name suggests is less processed than fine white sugar. It is a golden colour with a richer, honeyed flavour and is lovely in tea and coffee but is also great in Anzac biscuits or other baked goods based on oatmeal and wholemeal ingredients.
Bone char is used for decolorization in the Domino Sugar Refinery in Chalmette (LA). If the lot code on your sugar starts with the number 5, it means it was produced in Louisiana, and consequently, is not vegan.
Although white sugar doesn't contain bone char, it is decolorized with the ingredient to achieve the white hue. Bone char, which acts as a crude filter, is a porous material made by charring the bones of cattle from Afghanistan, Argentina, India, and Pakistan, according to peta.org.
Because refined sugars made from sugarcane require bone char to achieve a clear white colour, most refined cane sugars are unsuitable for vegans. Some types of brown sugar also involve using bone char, such as those that are created by adding molasses to refined cane sugar to achieve the brown colour.
In the UK, there are only 3 sugar producers: Tatle & Lyle, British sugar (brands such as Silver Spoon) & Ragus Sugars. None of the 3 companies use bone char for processing, meaning all granulated and caster sugar in the UK is suitable for vegans.
The presence of hydroxyapatite groups in bone char is effective in removing the fluoride impurities by ion exchange and electrostatic interaction mechanism. For example, Bone char from cattle can adsorb ~11 mg/g of fluoride at pH 3 when 20 mg/L of fluoride impurities are present.
Organic Sugar: Always Bone Char-Free
To maintain its organic integrity, organic sugar is only minimally processed or not refined at all. Since bone char is not on the National Organic Program's National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances, certified USDA organic sugar cannot be filtered through bone char.
Coca-Cola contains sugar from sugar cane. The cane sugar is the same as you would buy in a supermarket to use at home in cooking, tea, coffee or in other drinks. Around 80 per cent of the sugar used in our drinks is grown in Australia, mostly in tropical north Queensland and northern New South Wales.
Imports of commodity group 1704 "Sugar confectionery (including white chocolate), not containing cocoa" accounted for 0.086% of total import flow to Australia (in 2022, total imports to Australia amounted to $ 309 billion).
Product Details
This all natural sugar is a kitchen staple crafted from 100% Australian sugarcane.
The black stuff is called burnt sugar! But seriously, this is what happens when you heat or burn things that contain carbon. It reacts with oxygen and "oxidizes" (burns). The black stuff itself is mainly carbon.
Refined or processed sugar should be limited
Eating these foods regularly leads to weight gain and other problems. “It means you are going to experience that sugar spike and if that happens consistently it can contribute to obesity, diabetes, heart disease and other chronic conditions,” Wohlford says.
White sugar gets its color from a refining process that often involves the use of bone char, meaning even though it's not directly an animal product, it's not vegan.
While not an animal product in itself, many vegans consider sugar in ketchup to be non-vegan-friendly, as many white and brown sugars are filtered and bleached using animal bone char. Heating cow bones to a high temperature until they break down into carbon creates bone char or activated carbon.
Bone char is not used at the sugar beet factory in Taber, Alberta, or in Montreal's cane refinery. Bone char is used only at the Vancouver cane refinery.
Vegans can also safely consume raw or unrefined brown sugars made from sugarcane because they have not been in contact with animal products. Sugar can also be vegan if it comes from fruits and vegetables besides sugarcane and sugar beets. These can include popular products like coconut and date sugar.