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.
Because it is most commonly used for raw sugar, filtration is not done in the manufacturing process to produce it “raw,” so bone char is not involved.
Bone char—often referred to as natural carbon—is widely used by the sugar industry as a decolorizing filter, which allows the sugar cane to achieve its desirable white color. Other types of filters involve granular carbon or an ion-exchange system rather than bone char. Bone char is also used in other types of sugar.
Yes, sugar is vegan
In Australia, sugarcane ripens in the sun and, once cut or harvested, the juice in the stalks is removed using a crushing process. At a sugar mill, the juice is heated to remove the water and the raw sugar crystals that form can then be refined.
In Australia and New Zealand sugar for commercial use is mostly extracted from sugarcane. Simple sugars are called monosaccharides and include glucose (also known as dextrose), fructose, and galactose. The sugar most commonly used as table sugar is sucrose.
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.
Product Details
This all natural sugar is a kitchen staple crafted from 100% Australian sugarcane.
Raw sugar is typically suitable for vegans. Even though sugarcane is usually used in raw sugar, filtration is skipped in manufacturing to make it “raw”, so no bone char is involved in the process.
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.
Sugar is produced from sugar cane plants in Australia. As a result, it is vegan. The question of whether sugar is a vegan or a non-vegan product can be difficult for vegans to decide. The answer is simply that cane sugar and beet sugar are not the same.
Typically, sugar is made from sugarcane, sugar beets, or coconuts. Beet and coconut sugar are never processed with bone char.
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.
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.
Loved by Australians for generations, CSR Dark Brown Sugar is 100% natural with a dark colour and rich, distinctive flavour. Crafted with molasses, this sugar is ideal for sweetening fruits, puddings and cakes. It's also suited for savoury dishes including barbecue sauces and marinades.
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.
Brown sugars are made by coating white sugar crystals in a molasses like syrup. The darker the sugar, the more molasses it contains, and the stronger the caramelised flavour will be. Brown sugar retains more moisture than white sugar, so it is loved in baking as the final product will stay fresher for longer.
The Exact Role of Bone Char In Sugar Refining
A bone char filter acts like a crude filter and is most often used first in cane sugar refining.
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.
Granulated or white sugar comes from the stalks of sugarcane, which makes it vegetarian, but the mixing of this processed sugar with animal bone char to give a perfect white colour changes the entire game, which is why vegans around the world consider refined sugar to be a non-vegan food product.
Sugar in Australia is sourced from sugar cane. Most Australian sugar cane is grown on family-owned and operated farms. Farmers prepare their land by cultivating the soil. Once ready, sugar setts (cuttings from mature cane stalks) are planted.
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.
Caster sugar
It's also called superfine sugar. It dissolves more easily, making it perfect for recipes like custard from scratch, meringues and cakes.
Australian Sugar Milling Council members own and run 18 sugar mills, which produce 93% of Australia's raw sugar. The current members are: Isis Central Mill Company Limited. Mackay Sugar Limited.
Caster Sugar is made from Australian grown and made cane sugar at the Harwood Refinery in northern New South Wales.