Why can't vegans eat white sugar?

[Nataszka]

Hello everyone! I am a new vegan and therefore have a couple of questions....Why can't vegans eat white sugar and what pastas are safe? I used to buy wholewheat pasta but is that still ok? If there is egg in it, what is it normally listed as in the ingredients list? Thank you so much in advance.

"To the world you may be one person, but to one person you may be the world" - unknown

[molly]

Animal products are sometimes used in the processing of white sugar (I want to say it's bone char, but it has been a while since I read up on it); this is why a lot of us don't use it. There are LOTS of vegan sweeteners out there though! As for the pasta, I'm not a huge pasta eater, but I'm pretty sure the label would say "egg" or "egg white" plainly if it was an eggy pasta. I'm sure someone else here knows more than I do, but it's a start....

Do you live near a natural food store? They are likely not only to have a good selection of vegan sugar, but also to have very simple, clear, non-scary ingredients lists (easier to understand, though not necessarily vegan). Also, while I'm not a big fan of PETA, they do have a pretty useful website with a list of common (& not-so-common) food ingredients & whether or not they are vegetarian/vegan. (www.peta.org ?...I forget... I'm pretty useless this morning! sorry!)

Congratulations and thank you for becoming vegan! :)

[Erin Pavlina]

Read this article on bone char and sugar. (http://www.vegfamily.com/articles/sugar.htm)

Dry pasta is almost always vegan. It's the fresh pasta you have to watch out for. The ingredients will say egg if there is egg in it.

[mum2sarah]

Hi, I'm a newbie, but I read the link about sugar, and I think now I'm more confused. Is there bone char actually in the sugar, or is it just used in the filter that whitens the sugar? Does the sugar ever touch the bone char? I guess it's all a matter of perspective; I don't like hearing about the use of bone char at all, but it's one thing to injest it; it's another if it is used in a processing facility but doesn't actually end up in the sugar itself. I have some of the Florida Crystals sugar, but I think I also have some generic kinds as well. I think I will be buying the Florida Crystals from now on, but I don't know whether or not I should be totally disgusted and throw out the other sugar I already have, or just finish it and not buy it again. I definitely don't want to use it if there are particles of bone char in it.

[Erin Pavlina]

The sugar is filtered through bone char but no bone char is actually "in" the sugar. Same thing happens to tap water... it's filtered through charcoal or bone char, can't remember which. Most vegan philosophists will say eating white sugar filtered through bone char is okay.

So I wouldn't throw it out, use it up and then decide what to buy.

[Nataszka]

I have some plantation sugar that says on the back "made from the filtered syrups of natural cane sugar" so I am assuming that it's vegan....am I right? Thanks!

[Erin Pavlina]

Yeah, most white sugar is vegan. It's refined cane sugar that's the gray area.

[abigailsmomma]

Beet sugar (as opposed to cane sugar) is vegan, no bone char is used for filtering. There are tons of sugar beet refineries around the midwest (elsewhere too maybe?). So we are able to buy local!