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. Only countries that are deemed BSE-free can sell the bones of their cattle for this process. 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. Brown sugar is created by adding molasses to refined sugar, so companies that use bone char in the production of their regular sugar also use it in the production of their brown sugar. Confectioner’s sugar—refined sugar mixed with cornstarch—made by these companies also involves the use of bone char. Fructose may, but does not typically, involve a bone-char filter. Supermarket brands of sugar (e.g., Giant, Townhouse, etc.) obtain their sugar from several different refineries, making it impossible to know whether it has been filtered with bone char.

If you want to avoid all refined sugars, we recommend alternatives such as Sucanat and turbinado sugar, which are not filtered with bone char. Additionally, beet sugar—though normally refined—never involves the use of bone char and Edward & Sons Trading Company has developed a vegan confectioner’s sugar which should be available in health food stores soon.

It would be virtually impossible for PETA to maintain information on the refining process used for the sugar in every product. We encourage you to contact companies directly to ask about the source of their sugar.

The following companies do not use bone-char filters:

Michigan Sugar Company

2600 S. Euclid Ave.

Bay City, MI 48706

Tel.: 989.686.0161

Fax: 989.671.3695

Web: www.michigansugar.com

Florida Crystals Corporation

P.O. Box 471

West Palm Beach, FL 33480

Tel.: 877-835-2828

Fax: 516-366-5200

Web: www.floridacrystals.com

SuperValu

SUPERVALU Corporate Headquarters

East View Innovation Center

7075 Flying Cloud Drive

Eden Prairie, MN 55344

Tel.: 952-828-4000

Web.: www.supervalu.ie/

Western Sugar

Western Sugar is a subsidiary of Tate & Lyle (formerly Domino sugar) which does use bone-char filters. However, Western Sugar makes only beet sugar, which does not use bone-char filters.

7555 E. Hampton Ave., Ste. 600

Denver, CO 80210

Tel.: 303-830-3939

Fax: 303-830-3941

Web: www.westernsugar.com

Wholesome!

14141 Southwest Freeway, Suite 160

Sugar Land, TX 77478

Tel.: 800-680-1896

Web.: www.WholesomeSweet.com

The following companies do use bone-char filters. Contact them and encourage them to adopt the use of humane alternatives to bone-char filters:

C&H Sugar Company

2300 Contra Costa Blvd., Ste. 600

Pleasant Hill, CA 94523

Tel.: 925-688-1731

Fax: 925-822-1061

E-Mail: [email protected]

Web: www.chsugar.com

Savannah Foods

P.O. Box 335

Savannah, GA 31402

Tel.: 912-234-1261

Tate & Lyle North American Sugars Inc. (formerly Domino Sugar)

1100 Key Hwy. W.

Baltimore, MD 21230

Tel.: 1-800-638-1590

Fax: 410-783-8640

Imperial Sugar

P.O. Box 9

Sugarland, TX 77487

Tel.: 1-800-727-8427

Web: www.imperialsugar.com

Refined Sugars Inc.

1 Federal St.

Yonkers, NY 10702

Tel.: 914-963-2400

Fax: 914-963-1030