{"id":17519,"date":"2021-06-10T10:00:08","date_gmt":"2021-06-10T14:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/?p=17519"},"modified":"2021-05-27T11:14:55","modified_gmt":"2021-05-27T15:14:55","slug":"bone-char-free-vegan-sugar-update-2021-domino-sugar-florida-crystals-and-ch-sugar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/2021\/06\/10\/bone-char-free-vegan-sugar-update-2021-domino-sugar-florida-crystals-and-ch-sugar\/","title":{"rendered":"Bone Char-Free Vegan Sugar Update 2021: Domino Sugar, Florida Crystals, and C&H Sugar"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By Jeanne Yacoubou, MS <\/p>\n\n\n\n

According\nto their website<\/a>, ASR\nGroup is the world’s largest refiner and marketer of cane sugar. In the United\nStates, ASR produces sugar under these brand names: Domino Sugar, Florida\nCrystals, and C&H Sugar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\nApril and May 2021, The Vegetarian Resource Group spoke with Michael Burchell,\nSenior Director, Global Corporate Quality and Daryl Sabourin, Global Director\nof Sustainability, about sugar processing at ASR.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\nlearned that they currently use three different methods for cane sugar\ndecolorization and purification:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Cow bone char<\/li>
  2. Ion exchange resin using a polystyrene bed (a non-biodegradable, fossil fuel-derived plastic)<\/li>
  3. Granular activated carbon (GAC) using coal or coconut husks<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    ASR\nGroup employs all of these methods at various refineries around the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Burchell\ntold us that all three processes yield sugar of comparable purity and quality.\nBecause each type of refining requires its own type of costly, specialized\nequipment that has a functional life of 50+ years, changing processing methods\nis not frequently done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Baltimore’s\nrefinery converted completely away from bone char filtration in June 2015.\nBurchell stated that concern about using animal material, especially in light\nof zoonotic diseases, was one reason they made the switch. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    At\nthe Baltimore location, Domino now uses granular activated carbon (sourced from\nboth coal and coconut husks) and ion exchange resin for processing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The\nYonkers, NY refinery eliminated bone char in the ’80s. It currently uses\ngranulated activated carbon, as does the South Bay, FL refinery which has\nalways been bone char-free.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    By\ncontrast, the ASR sugar refineries in Crockett, CA and Arabi, LA use bone char\nfiltration. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In\nthe 1990s, 90% of the cane sugar industry was using cow bone char as a filter.\nBurchell points out, however, that the ASR Group was already 40% bone char-free\nin the ’90s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Burchell\nestimated that today, 65%<\/strong> of all ASR sugar is bone char-free. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Burchell\ntold The VRG that consumers can tell if a particular package of Domino Sugar,\nFlorida Crystals or C&H Sugar is completely bone char-free if the lot\nnumber appearing on the label begins with 1, 4, or 6<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The\ncarbon footprint of cane sugar<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Michael\nBurchell informed The Vegetarian Resource Group that methane gas was the energy\nsource driving the sugar processing in some refineries. And where granular\nactivated carbon was used, coal was one of the source materials. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Both\nmethane gas from fracking and coal from mining are fossil fuels. The burning of\nfossil fuels is the leading cause of our climate crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    We\nwanted to know more about how the fossil fuel (also called carbon) footprints\nof the three industrial methods for cane sugar processing compare. This\ninformation may help educate climate-conscious consumers when they are deciding\nwhich foods and beverages to purchase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Burchell\ndirected us to Daryl Sabourin, ASR Group’s Global Director of Sustainability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Sabourin\nwas unable to tell us exactly how the fossil fuel footprints of the three sugar\nprocessing methods compare. His company has not determined what they are.\nSabourin estimated that a complete assessment would cost \u201cat least $70,000.\u201d It\nisn’t required by the government and no other companies are conducting this\ntype of analysis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    When\nconsumers want this information and believe the extra cost through raised\nprices (or tax credits?) are worth it, companies may start conducting this type\nof analysis. A complete environmental impact assessment, including a fossil\nfuel footprint analysis, would provide essential information about the total\nenvironmental costs of production methods. This information would allow\nbusinesses to transition toward using only the methods which have the smallest\nenvironmental and fossil fuel footprints and be leaders in\nsound sustainability practices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Sabourin\nestimated that for the granular actived carbon (GAC) method, coal, itself a\nfossil fuel, would have a higher fossil fuel footprint than coconut husks. He\nalso estimated that since bone char manufacture and regeneration require\nextremely high temperatures for extended times, the bone char method would have\na higher carbon footprint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    For information on other ingredients,\nsee https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/ingredients\/index.php<\/a>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    To\nfind out about updates, sign up for our email newsletter: https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/vrgnews\/index.php<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    To\nsupport The Vegetarian Resource Group research, donate at vrg.org\/donate<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Or\njoin VRG at https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/member\/2013sv.php<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The contents of this posting, our\nwebsite, and our other publications, including Vegetarian Journal, are not\nintended to provide personal medical advice. Medical advice should be obtained\nfrom a qualified health professional. We often depend on product and ingredient\ninformation from company statements. It is impossible to be 100% sure about a\nstatement, info can change, people have different views, and mistakes can be\nmade. Please use your best judgment about whether a product is suitable for\nyou. To be sure, do further research or confirmation on your own.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    By Jeanne Yacoubou, MS According to their website, ASR Group is the world’s largest refiner and marketer of cane sugar. In the United States, ASR produces sugar under these brand names: Domino Sugar, Florida Crystals, and C&H Sugar. In April and May 2021, The Vegetarian Resource Group spoke with Michael Burchell, Senior Director, Global Corporate […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17519"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17519\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17521,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17519\/revisions\/17521"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vrg.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}