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Nutrition
Say No To Bone Char!
A List of Bone Char Free Vegan Sugar Companies
Sugar comes from two sources – sugar cane and sugar beets.
Bone char is widely used by the sugar industry as a decolorizing filter, which allows sugar to achieve its white color. The bone char is made from the bones of cattle from countries like Afghanistan, Argentina, India and Pakistan. The bones are sold to traders who then sell them to the U.S. sugar industry.
Bone char is used in many types of sugar including brown sugar and confectioner’s sugar.
The supermarket brands of sugar obtain their sugar from several different refineries, making it next to impossible to know whether it has been filtered with bone char. Beet sugar is considered vegan because it’s never processed with bone char.
This bone char filter process is unacceptable to many vegans.
Even if you’re not vegan, you have reason to be concerned about refined sugars and bone char.
Due to health concerns, the FDA prohibits the use of bones from the United States’ meat industry which is why the bones are imported. Also, the bones are required to come from animals that die of natural causes, but no one is monitoring that.
Fortunately there are vegan sugars on the market, but it takes a little effort to purchase. If you can’t find vegan sugar at your local market, I recommend going online. Here is a list of vegan sugars available on Amazon. If you know of any others, please share.
NOTE: JAN 2020: Since bone char is not on the National Organic Program’s National List of allowed substances, certified USDA organic sugar cannot be filtered through bone char.
Zulka – an Ordinary Vegan favorite and available at most mainstream grocery stores!
Wholesome Sweeteners Fair Trade Organic Sugar
Wholesome Sweeteners Fair Trade Organic Light Brown Sugar
Wholesome Sweeteners Fair Trade Organic Dark Brown Sugar
Now Foods Beet Sugar
Trader Joe’s Organic Sugar Evaporated Cane Juice
Sugar In The Raw
Rapunzel Rapadura
Woodstock Farms Organic Pure Cane Sugar
Florida Crystals Organic Cane Sugar
Red Path Sugar
Billingtons
The Raw Cane
Sprouts Sugar
Kirkland Organic Sugar – Costco
American Crystal Beet Sugar
Roger’s Sugars – note: Bone char is not used in Vancouver any more
** It has been brought to my attention that Florida Crystals Organic Cane Sugar may be responsible for pollution problems in Florida. Here are some articles regarding it**
https://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/angry-about-floridas-ruined-waters-fishermen-unite-against-big-sugar-8475700
https://www.floridacrystals.com/algae-facts-response
https://www.tcpalm.com/story/news/politics/elections/2018/06/06/florida-sugar-industry-backs-adam-putnam-governor/651146002/
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123 responses to “Say No To Bone Char!”
Heavenly Organics Sugar is Vegan. It’s rare, 100% organic whole cane sugar from the pristine foothills of the Himalayan Mountains produced by a cooperative of small farmers who practice an ancient method of removing impurities from organic cane juice by using wild-crafted herbs and then sun drying. It’s made without the use of commercial dryers thus preserving the natural nutrients and minerals and reducing our carbon footprint.
That sounds awesome Jacquelyn – Thanks for sharing. I will order it this week!
Bone char is not used at Taber’s sugar beet factory or at Montreal’s cane refinery. Bone char is only used at the Vancouver cane refinery. All products under the Lantic trademark are free of bone char. For the products under the Rogers trademark, all Taber sugar beet products are also free of bone char. In order to differentiate the Rogers Taber beet products from the Vancouver cane products, you can verify the inked-jet code printed on the product. Products with the code starting with the number “22” are from Taber, Alberta, while products with the code starting with the number “10” are from Vancouver, British Columbia.
Bone char is not used in Vancouver any more, either. All Rogers sugar is vegan friendly.
Thanks for sharing – I will put an update! Have a nice day
Does anybody know of a company that sells GMO beet sugar? I’m seriously looking for a inexpensive, vegan GMO beet sugar but am having a hard time finding a consumer product that meet my guidelines. I figure I need to avoid the cognitive dissonance and my ethical qualms with buying organic products since they actively disparage good science and engage in anti-GMO fear mongering.
Thanks for any help.
David
I didn’t know this David until you brought it up but it seems The US sugar beet industry coordinated an industry-wide conversion to genetically modified sugar beets, thus eliminating a non-GMO alternative for food manufacturers and consumers. For more information – click here
Do you have a better resource than an anti-GMO website with no references or good scientific resources? Like with any ag product, it is the farmers that decide, not the industry, what they want to grow based upon many factors such as cost, quality of the product, environmental impact, and more. I am actually glad that farmers have moved away from using toxic organic and conventional pesticides and herbicides in favor on GM crops that use products that are less toxic to humans than salt.
Anyways, any idea on where to get non-organic, vegan transgenic sugar beet sugar?
No David – I am afraid I don’t but if I run across some, I will let you know.
Beets are man-made, therefore unnatural, and not beneficial to the body. I understand not wanting to use animal products in sugar, but cane sugar was never meant to be used as sweetener; It was used as an alternative to honey and dates because it was seen to be lucrative. As a result, the slave trade was used for free labor to work the sugar cane fields.
I did not know that Dawn – Thanks for sharing!
American Crystal in the Midwest is all beet and probably mostly GMO. There has been a lot of pressure for the farmers in this co-op to plant Roundup Ready seed. It’s about the same price as any supermarket sugar. Beet sugar is vegan because it usually bleached through a spray method rather than a filter method.
Thanks for the info Jen and thanks for being part of our community!
White sugar is just the pits. It gives your body NOTHING that is good… far from it. Only your candida loves it.
Technically all sugars feed candida, but white sugar (like bleached flour) is bad+worse. 🙂
My friend uses bone char as an amendment to her garden soil. Do not understand these replies for organic table & baking sugars.
My understanding is that any sugar that is labeled as organic is also therefore vegan, (at least in the US) as the organic standards do not permit the use of bone char. Can anyone confirm this?
Hi Matt – I do believe that this is now true because bone char is not on the National Organic Program’s National list of allowed substances. Thanks for mentioning this and I will include it in this post. Happy New Year!
Nancy
I know that Rogers sugar in canada is Vegan, however only if produced in the alberta factory, the vancouver factory, however uses the bone-char method… I use their plantation raw in all my baking and stuff, and it is awesome 🙂
Thanks Dale!
Zulka is vegan and non-GMO project verified. Sometimes coupons and sale prices are available too. 🙂
This is the brand we use, they are fantastic!
Thanks for spreading the word! Zulka is super affordable and widely available.
I was just researching vegan sugar and was trying to chose between Domino agave and Florida Crystals only to find out Domino foods owns C&H sugar, Domino sugar, and Florida crystals. Does anyone know if this leader company makes all it’s sugar vegan? I would like to support a whole company doing the right thing, not just one of their brands.
Billington’s golden caster sugar (unrefined cane sugar) is suitable for vegans – you can buy it in most supermarkets in the UK.
What about unbleached sugar?
If it is unbleached it shouldn’t have bone char because the purpose of the bone char is to whiten the sugar but brown sugars could have been made with bone char so I would buy vegan sugar to be certain. Thanks Tracy for being part of our community.
Yes exactly. Brown sugar is simply white (or unbleached) sugar with added molasses. One would have to determine the source and processing method of the original sugar used.
Hi Nancy, I’ve just discovered your site and really love it! You have so many great, easy recipes.Can’t wait to start trying them all.
I wonder if you have the low down on how vegan wine is produced. I assumed all wine was vegan but apparently most is not. I’m in the dark on this. Any info. would be most appreciated.
Hi Bridget – I will do a post regarding wine this week and send you a link. Thanks for bringing that up and for being part of our community!
Hey everyone,
FYI- Just called Imperial Sugar customer service, who said that All of their sugar is processed using bone char filtering.
Thanks for the article!
Wholefoods has a vegan sugar and their organic sugar. Also raw sugar, right?
Yes Tamara – raw sugar should be vegan. Thanks for the info and thanks for being part of our community!
Would like to ask if anyone knows if white granulated sugar with bone char processing would hurt hummingbirds? I make a 4 to 1 mix of this sugar all summer for them & have already purchased a 25 lb. bag of the stuff. My hummers are piggies.
That is such a good question Lynel. I can’t find anything about it hurting hummingbirds online. The only two harmful ingredients for hummingbirds that I could find are red food coloring and too many preservatives. Thanks for feeding the hummingbirds and being part of our community!
It the sugar WITHOUT bone char processing that can hurt the hummingbirds: “Raw sugar, agave syrup, brown sugar, molasses, artificial sweeteners, or anything other than white sugar; these cause various problems for hummers.”
http://kern.audubon.org/hummer_feeding.htm
I also read the iron in unfiltered sugar can cause health problems for the hummingbirds. 🙂
Forgot the word “is” after It. Sorry, I’m anal retentive about my spelling/grammar. 😉
Trader Joe’s has organic sugar and organic powdered sugar.
What about coconut palm sugar?? Trade Joe’s has organic palm sugar.
Beet and coconut sugar are not processed with bone char. Thanks for stopping by Marie and thanks for being part of our healthy community!
Just be sure it’s organic, because beet sugar is GMO!
Great point Chris!
I’d be careful about organic beet sugar as well (this is 2008, so I’m sure it’s only gotten worse):
http://www.non-gmoreport.com/articles/jun08/sugar_beet_industry_converts_to_gmo.php
Not ALL beet sugar is GMO. Michigan Sugar Co. Does not use char and in not GMO.
Thanks Judy for the heads up!
Untrue. 100% of beet sugar in US is GMO. You are misled. In fact the kind you mentioned is proud that GMOs exist. Do your research.
Do you know if bone char is used in Australia?
Hi Joanna – my research is telling me that the sugar industry in Australia uses non-animal coal filters to process cane sugar in Australia although I would research the individual brands you are planning on buying. Thanks for being part of our community Joanna.
Florida Crystals is vegan and available at Walmart!
Not necessarily: “Florida Crystals owns American Sugar Refining (Domino Foods) as well as the C&H Sugar Company, both of which now call bone char “natural charcoal.”
http://www.vrg.org/journal/vj2007issue4/2007_issue4_sugar.php
id also like to mention that red path is an acceptable vegan sugar option as well. http://redpathsugar.com/faqs/
Awesome! Thank you 🙂
You are welcome Alisha and thanks for being part of our healthy community!
Are any of these sugars listed Diabetic friendly ?
No Terri – I don’t think so – I tasted some delicious stevia products at the Natural Foods convention. I particularly liked one called stevita
No, they aren’t diabetic friendly, but I’ve been using Truvia (which is Stevia) and Agave Nectar…they do not cause blood sugar to rise. Available on Amazon.com or local grocery stores. These two products do not cause blood sugar to rise.
truvia, i believe is made/ created /marketed by BIG AG thus chems, herbicides/ pesticides/ GMO influences thus a HUGE ‘suspect’ for ‘integrity’ of the finished product. Somewhat related to ‘Whole paychecks’ vitamin C sourced from GMO corn. Just saying BEWARE
tThanks so very very much for the information about Truvia. What should I use then since I can not use sugar?
Brynn – I would recommend stevia for coffee etc and pure organic maple syrup to sweeten recipes.
Dates. First of all, all foods cause fluctuations in blood sugar levels, the safest bet is to find something naturally sweet that has not been processed and add that to your drink, baking, dressing, etc.
Dates are high in fiber and will cause a slower spike in blood sugar and less of a dramatic crash. Above all, for type 2 diabetes you should be avoiding processed products in general, as to lower your fat intake.
Check out nutrition facts.org for more info.
Pyure brand organic Stevia comes in single pkts & granulated.
Ttrivia is also mixed with maltodextrin or dextrose which are fillers The only brand i kknow that is pure Stevie is Sweet Leaf brand.
Truvia is not mixed with maltodextrin or dextrose, it is mixed with erythritol.
Agave syrup has been marketed as a “healthful” sweetener, but this fact has been the subject of criticism due to its very high fructose content (which is even more than high fructose corn syrup in its fructose content by weight) and its potential to lead to insulin resistance and significantly increased triglyceride levels (a risk factor for heart disease)
Moderation is key, as well as using organic, RAW agave. 😉
Yacon syrup is great for diabetics. Its glycemic index is available here: http://www.sugar-and-sweetener-guide.com/glycemic-index-for-sweeteners.html
Thank you Veena!! Happy holidays!
If you’re diabetic eat hclf, go on YouTube to the channel ‘high carb diabetic’ people wouldn’t make any money from curing you would they, its better if pharmaceutical companies keep selling you their drugs. Forks over knives and high carb diabetic on YouTube and see what yiu think xD
Agave nectar is not recommended for diabetes
Useful to know. Thanks
You are welcome Kim! and Happy New Year!
Wanted to share my favorite online source for vegan sugar: https://www.vitacost.com/productResults.aspx?N=4293081419&allSpecialtyDiet=true&Ntt=sugar
Thanks for the informative article.
also you could use coconut nectar or coconut sugar.
Truvia and Purvia are from the Coca cola company and Pepsi company, respectively. Both are FAKE sugars!!
Only a non-sugar or a low-carb sweetener would be safe for a diabetic. That’s why nobody’s recommending real sugar.
Excellent ! Just an fyi .. I stopped ordering anything from Amazon since I found out the owner bought Whole Foods Markets & is one of the worst violators of animal welfare… is where DxE rescued horribly diseased & suffering animals. Just thought you may like to know & spread the word so the rich who don’t care don’t get richer especially by vegan purchases!
Ha ha ha are you serious????
I’m demoing some products at work today, vegan, and vegetarian friendly. They are called “Hey Shuga.” It’s also GMO free. Oh and natural, and organic, with no artificial anything!
Thanks TJ – I all check it out
Organic sugars are typically more diabetic friendly since refined is around 80+ GI (glycemic index) while organic is only 45 GI
As a diabetic I’d never eat sweeteners or sugars other than contained in fruits and vegetables. Processed sugars cause cancer and sweeteners are a serious health risk bar a couple, and they are not healthy. A raw food diet is best and can even reverse type 2 diabetes. Research research !
Hi Brett – Thanks for your opinion and for being part of our healthy community!
So does whole foods plant based and also can prevent and reverse so many other diseases and illnesses. 🙂
Watch the documentary What the Health….sugar is not the cause of diabetes, neither are carbs.
This is the documentary I recommend to everyone.
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