If you aren’t on a vegan diet, chances are you didn’t know that all sugar isn’t considered vegan. It doesn’t come from an animal so what’s the issue? Bone char. Bet you didn’t know that many sugars are processed with bone char either. Bone char, usually made from the bones of cows, is used in the decolorization process for sugar – meaning it whitens the sugar through a filtration process. Standard sugar packages won't explain all of this, but the process is unacceptable to many vegans and they avoid sugar as a result. But that may be about to change when all the vegans out there find out about our 365 Everyday Value® Vegan Cane Sugar (which retails for about $4 for a 4-pound bag). Our vegan sugar goes through a 100% animal-free carbon deactivation process to decolorize. This carbon is a mineral and therefore, a non-animal source. Great news, right?
And we didn’t stop there…our vegan sugar is also part of our Whole Trade Guarantee opens in a new tab. Read on to see why this sugar may be a perfect choice for non-vegans too! Any product with the Whole Trade Guarantee must meet all four of these criteria:
Meet our high quality standards
Provide more money to producers
Ensure better wages and working conditions for workers
Care for the environment
To sweeten the deal, we also donate 1% of all Whole Trade product sales to the Whole Planet Foundation opens in a new tab, whose mission is poverty alleviation through microcredit in communities around the world that supply Whole Foods Market stores with products.
Our vegan sugar is grown and processed in Belize and the communities there are directly impacted by the sale of this sugar because every purchase of Whole Trade products helps fund projects such as new community centers, schools and homes for real people. The Whole Trade premiums paid to Belize sugar farmers have increased their income too. So, the next time you buy sugar think about the impact your $4 purchase can help make — even if you don't follow a vegan diet.
