It actually seems clear that sugar is vegan – it is obtained from plants such as sugar beet or sugar cane. In some cases, however, sugar is refined with animal substances. We explain when sugar is vegan – and when not.
Sugar is often hidden in processed foods in particular. But the sweetener is also often used in your own kitchen, when baking or for coffee or tea. Even vegans do not do without sugar, since the food itself is purely vegetable. A closer look reveals, however, that this is not always entirely true. In some cases, animal substances are used in production.
Sugar is vegan – but not always
Sugar is usually obtained from sugar beets or sugar cane and is therefore a plant-based food. Animal charcoal is sometimes used to make refined sugar.
Refined sugar is a particularly white, pure sugar that is almost 100 percent sugar and contains no trace elements or by-products. In order to obtain this, the sugar is also filtered and decolorized in addition to various other processing steps. Various substances and means can be used for this process – including animal charcoal.
Animal charcoal, also known as carbo animalis, is an activated charcoal made from animal products such as bones, blood, or skin. Since these occur in large quantities as slaughterhouse waste products, animal charcoal is a particularly cheap filter material. Alternatively, sugar is refined with activated carbon from other raw materials or kieselguhr.
Recognizing vegan sugar: you need to know that
Animal charcoal does not have to be specified on the packaging as a production aid. It is therefore not clear by what means the sugar was processed and refined.
To be on the safe side, you have two options:
Ask the sugar producer directly whether or not they use animal products in their production.
Skip refined sugar and buy whole cane sugar instead.
Whole cane sugar has even more advantages over refined sugar: Since the molasses with its valuable minerals and vitamins remains in the sugar, it is considered the healthiest type of sugar.
