Vegans: opinions on sugar?

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anb3600
anb3600 Posts: 46 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I just bought some ‘veggie balls’ from Ikea (which online sources claim are vegan) but in the ingredients it says it contains brown sugar. When I look online, it says brown sugar isnt vegan as it’s made using bone char! Any help?

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  • SuzySunshine99
    SuzySunshine99 Posts: 2,984 Member
    edited April 2019
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    Brown sugar is just sugar with molasses added.
    Some sugars are filtered using bone char, but there are no animal products in the final product that you eat. Depending on how strict of a vegan you are that might make a difference to you.
  • MikePTY
    MikePTY Posts: 3,814 Member
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    It depends how it was processed. Most common forms of refined sugar (brown, white, powdered) are made with a process that involved bone char, so even though the sugar itself does not include bone char, most will not consider sugar to be vegan. However, not all sugars are made from this process. Beet sugar does not use the bone char process, as do some other forms of cane sugar. So it is possible it is using a vegan sugar. I do not know.

    Ultimately, there are no official vegan police, and you can eat whichever you feel comfortable with. Nobody will come and take you away for having sugar.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,981 Member
    edited April 2019
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    You are correct that conventional brown sugar may have been processed with bone char and is therefore not vegan. However, since IKEA is positioning their veggie balls as vegan, presumably they sourced vegan sugar. What does the packaging say?

    ETA: since PETA was involved, I'd feel comfortable that the veggie ball are indeed 100% vegan:
    https://www.huffpost.com/entry/ikea-vegan-meatballs-yippee_n_6564336
    https://www.peta.org/blog/ikea-unpacks-peta-award-for-new-vegan-meatballs/
  • OooohToast
    OooohToast Posts: 257 Member
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    Blimey - I did not know that about sugar !
  • wendyheath32
    wendyheath32 Posts: 74 Member
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    In the UK and Europe from what I know filtering through bone char is illegal but in the states it's still done. So it possibly couldn't be vegan
  • JohnnytotheB
    JohnnytotheB Posts: 361 Member
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    OooohToast wrote: »
    Blimey - I did not know that about sugar !

    Likewise. I learn a ton on this site.
  • OooohToast
    OooohToast Posts: 257 Member
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    wendyheath32 wrote: »
    In the UK and Europe from what I know filtering through bone char is illegal but in the states it's still done. So it possibly couldn't be vegan

    Thank goodness for that (am a Brit) I actually gagged slightly reading about this process. :(
  • wendyheath32
    wendyheath32 Posts: 74 Member
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    OooohToast wrote: »
    wendyheath32 wrote: »
    In the UK and Europe from what I know filtering through bone char is illegal but in the states it's still done. So it possibly couldn't be vegan

    Thank goodness for that (am a Brit) I actually gagged slightly reading about this process. :(

    Yeah it's nasty so glad we are good over here and its not allowed to happen.

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