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Sugar
Sucrose is the scientific name for table sugar.
Department of Food and Public Distribution

Sugar
  1. Questions and Answers About Sugars

  2. Raw Materials

  3. The Manufacturing Process

  4. Planting and harvesting

  5. Preparation and processing

  6. Juice extraction pressing

  7. Purification of juice — clarification

  8. Crystallization

  9. Centrifugaling

  10. Drying and packaging

  11. Byproducts

  12. What should your glucose levels be?

Questions and Answers About Sugars
What are carbohydrates?
Carbohydrates are the sugars, starches and fibers present in the products of fruits, grains, vegetables and milk.

What are the 5 sorts of carbohydrates?
Monosaccharides.
Disaccharides.
Oligosaccharides.
Polysaccharides.
Nucleotides?

Sucrose vs Glucose vs Fructose: What's the Difference?

Types of Carbohydrates
Carbohydrates

Simple Carbohydrates
Complex Carbohydrates

Monosaccharides
Disaccharides
Polysaccharides

Simple Carbohydrates

Monosaccharides

Glucose
Fructose
Galactose

Disaccharides

Maltose
Lactose
Sucrose

Polysaccharides

Starches
Fibers
Glycogen

Sucrose, glucose and fructose are three types of sugar that contain the same number of calories gram for gram.

They’re all found naturally in fruits, vegetables, dairy products and grains but also added to many processed foods.

However, they differ in their chemical structures, the way your body digests and metabolizes them and how they affect your health.

This article examines the main differences between sucrose, glucose and fructose and why they matter.

Sucrose Is Made up of Glucose and Fructose

Sucrose is the scientific name for table sugar.

Sugars are categorized as monosaccharides or disaccharides.

Disaccharides are made up of two, linked monosaccharides and broken back down into the latter during digestion.

Sucrose is a disaccharide consisting of one glucose and one fructose molecule, or 50% glucose and 50% fructose.

It’s a naturally occurring carbohydrate found in many fruits, vegetables and grains, but it’s also added to many processed foods, such as candy, ice cream, breakfast cereals, canned foods, soda and other sweetened beverages.

Table sugar and the sucrose found in processed foods are commonly extracted from sugar cane or sugar beets.

Sucrose tastes less sweet than fructose but sweeter than glucose.

Glucose

Glucose is a simple sugar or monosaccharide. It’s your body’s preferred carb-based energy source.

Monosaccharides are made up of one single unit of sugar and thus cannot be broken down into simpler compounds.

They’re the building blocks of carbohydrates.

In foods, glucose is most commonly bound to another simple sugar to form either polysaccharide starches or disaccharides, such as sucrose and lactose.

It’s often added to processed foods in the form of dextrose, which is extracted from cornstarch.

Glucose is less sweet than fructose and sucrose.

Fructose

Fructose, or “fruit sugar,” is a monosaccharide like glucose.

It’s naturally found in fruit, honey, agave and most root vegetables. Moreover, it’s commonly added to processed foods in the form of high-fructose corn syrup.

Fructose is sourced from sugar cane, sugar beets and corn. High-fructose corn syrup is made from cornstarch and contains more fructose than glucose, compared to regular corn syrup.

Of the three sugars, fructose has the sweetest taste but least impact on your blood sugar.

They’re Digested and Absorbed Differently

Your body digests and absorbs monosaccharides and disaccharides differently.

Since monosaccharides are already in their simplest form, they don’t need to be broken down before your body can use them. They’re absorbed directly into your bloodstream, primarily in your small intestine.

On the other hand, disaccharides like sucrose must be broken down into simple sugars before they can be absorbed.

Once the sugars are in their simplest form, they’re metabolized differently.

Glucose Absorption and Use

Glucose is absorbed directly across the lining of the small intestine into your bloodstream, which delivers it to your cells.

It raises blood sugar more quickly than other sugars, which stimulates the release of insulin.

Insulin is needed for glucose to enter your cells.

Once inside your cells, glucose is either used immediately to create energy or turned into glycogen to be stored in your muscles or liver for future use.

Your body tightly controls your blood sugar levels. When they get too low, glycogen is broken down into glucose and released into your blood to be used for energy.

If glucose is unavailable, your liver can make this type of sugar from other fuel sources.

Fructose Absorption and Use

Like glucose, fructose is absorbed directly into your bloodstream from the small intestine.

It raises blood sugar levels more gradually than glucose and does not appear to immediately impact insulin levels.

However, even though fructose doesn’t raise your blood sugar right away, it may have more long-term negative effects.

Your liver has to convert fructose into glucose before your body can use it for energy.

Eating large amounts of fructose on a high-calorie diet can raise blood triglyceride levels.

Excessive fructose intake may also raise the risk of metabolic syndrome and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

Sucrose Absorption and Use

Since sucrose is a disaccharide, it must be broken down before your body can use it.

Enzymes in your mouth partially break down sucrose into glucose and fructose. However, the majority of sugar digestion happens in the small intestine (4Trusted Source).

The enzyme sucrase, which is made by the lining of your small intestine, splits sucrose into glucose and fructose. They are then absorbed into your bloodstream as described above (4Trusted Source).

The presence of glucose increases the amount of fructose that is absorbed and also stimulates the release of insulin. This means that more fructose is used to create fat, compared to when this type of sugar is eaten alone (13Trusted Source).

Therefore, eating fructose and glucose together may harm your health more than eating them separately. This may explain why added sugars like high-fructose corn syrup are linked to various health issues.

What types of foods are carbohydrates?
Carbohydrates are present in a wide range of safe as well as unhealthy foods — bread, beans, milk, popcorn, potatoes, cookies, pasta, soft drinks, corn, and cherry pie. They come in a range of shapes too. The most natural and abundant types are sugars, starches and fibers.

What are the major functions of carbohydrates?
The four primary carbohydrate functions in the body are to provide energy, store energy, create macromolecules and spare protein and fat for other uses. Glucose energy is processed in the form of glycogen, with most in the muscle and liver.

What are the main carbohydrates?
Foods rich in carbohydrates include breads, vegetables and fruits, as well as dairy. Carbohydrates are the sugars, starches and fibers present in the products of fruits, grains , vegetables and milk. Even though often maligned in trendy diets, carbohydrates are essential to a healthy diet as one of the basic food groups.

What are the two sources of carbohydrates?
Healthy carbohydrate sources include both animal and plant food sources, such as fresh fruits, tomatoes, corn, potatoes, meat, and milk products. Examples that are not safe include soda, white bread, added sugar, pastries and other highly processed food.

What is a simple carbohydrate?
The body rapidly breaks down simple carbohydrates to be used as energy. Simple carbohydrates are naturally found in foods such as fruit, milk, and dairy products. In processed and refined sugars such as candy, table sugar, syrups and soft drinks, they are also found.

What is a complex carbohydrate?
Simple carbohydrates consist of sugar molecules, which are bound together in long , complex chains. Foods such as peas, beans, whole grains, and vegetables contain complex carbohydrates. Within the body, both simple and complex carbohydrates are converted into glucose ( blood sugar) and used as energy.

What is the difference between complex and simple carbohydrates?
Simple carbohydrates are present in such foods as table sugar and syrups. Complex carbohydrates contain longer sugar molecular chains than mere carbohydrates. Since complex carbohydrates have longer chains, they take longer than simple carbohydrates to break down and provide more lasting energy in the body.

What are sugars?
Sugars are carbohydrates, which serve as the main energy source for the body. There are many types of sugars. They occur both naturally and as ingredients in many foods.

The most familiar sugar is sucrose. It is made of two simple sugars, fructose and glucose. Fruits and vegetables naturally contain fructose and glucose. Other sugars used in foods include invert sugar, corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, honey, lactose (milk sugar) and other syrups. During digestion, all of these sugars except lactose break down into fructose and glucose. Lactose breaks down into glucose and galactose.

Why are sugars added to foods?
Sugars play important roles in foods. They add taste, texture and color to baked goods. They provide energy for yeast used in baking bread. They add body to yogurt. They help balance acidity in tomato sauces and salad dressings.

Certain sugars also play special roles in foods. Invert sugar helps keep sucrose from crystallizing in candies. Corn syrup is used in some foods because it is less sweet than sucrose.

Are sugars safe to eat?
Sugars are “Generally Recognized as Safe” by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In 1986 a review of research on sugars intake and safety concluded, “Other than the contribution to dental caries, there is no conclusive evidence on sugars that demonstrates a hazard to the general public when sugars are consumed at the levels that are now current and in the manner now practiced.”

The Surgeon General’s Report on Nutrition and Health, the National Academy of Sciences report Diet and Health, and Healthy People 2000: National Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Objectives by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services support these conclusions.

How does the body use sugars?
Sugars are a source of energy for the body. During intense physical activity, they are the main energy source.

There are no nutritional differences among sugars. The body uses all types in the same way. During digestion, sugars such as sucrose and lactose and other carbohydrates such as starches break down into simple (or single) sugars. Simple sugars then travel through the blood stream to body cells. There they provide energy and help form proteins, or are stored for future use.

The brain and red blood cells can only use glucose for energy. During pregnancy, glucose also helps form cells and produce milk. The body can make its own glucose or get it from foods.

How do sugars fit into a healthful diet?
A healthful daily diet includes foods from five groups: Grains (includes breads, cereal, rice and pasta; Vegetables (includes 100% vegetable juices) ; Fruits (includes 100% fruit juices) ; Dairy from fat-free or low-fat milk, yogurt, cheese or calcium-fortified soy beverages; Protein Foods from meat, poultry, seafood, beans and peas, eggs, processed soy products, nuts, and seeds. Some foods in these groups naturally contain sugars, such as fruit or milk. Other foods in these groups may have added sugars, such as cakes, cookies or fruit canned in syrup. A healthful diet can include both types of food. When you cut calories, nutritionists advise foods lower in fat and sugars most of the time. This helps ensure an adequate intake of essential nutrients.

What is meant by the term “sugars” on a food label?
The nutrition panel on a food label lists the total amount of sugars in a serving of the food. This amount includes sugars found naturally in foods such as the sugars in raisins. It also includes added sugars. The ingredient list must name sugars from all ingredient sources in descending order by weight.

Unlike other nutrients, sugars do not have a recommended level of intake or percent Daily Value. The 2002 Institute of Medicine Dietary Reference Intakes (DRI) report concluded that while there is insufficient evidence to set an upper limit for total or added sugar intake, there is data to suggest consumption of key micronutrients (calcium, vitamin A, and zinc) is affected when added sugar intake exceeds 25% of calories.

What does “sugar-free” and “reduced sugar” mean on the labels of food packages?
The FDA closely controls the use of these terms on food labels. A “sugar-free” food must contain less than 0.5 grams of sugars per serving. A “reduced sugar” food must contain at least 25 percent less sugar per serving than the regular product.

Sugars may not be added to a food labeled “no added sugar,” “without added sugar” or “no sugar added.” Processing also must not increase the amount of sugars in the food.

Unless the food meets other requirements for low or reduced calorie products, “sugar-free,” “no added sugar” or similarly labeled foods must feature another statement. The label must also state the product is not a reduced or low calorie food, or it is not for weight control.

Do sugars cause hyperactivity?
In the 1970s, anecdotal reports suggested sugars cause hyperactivity in children. Research, however, failed to confirm this theory. Hyperactivity was not seen in children after consistent high intakes or single large doses of sugars.

In a recent study, researchers examined the effect of eating sucrose (table sugar) on the behavior of children aged 6 to 10 years. The children were chosen for the study because their parents believed the children reacted negatively to sucrose. Preschool children were also studied. They are often considered sensitive to some foods. The researchers found no differences in the behavior of the children when they ate higher-than-normal amounts of sucrose compared to when they ate diets low in sucrose.

Actually, this and other research suggests sugars tend to calm both children and adults. This effect could go unnoticed due to other influences. For instance, the excitement of a birthday party or Halloween could override the calming effect of sugars.

Do sugars cause diabetes?
Diabetes is a disorder in the way the body handles sugars. People with diabetes either do not make enough insulin or they cannot use the insulin their bodies do make. Insulin is needed to use most sugars.

Diabetes treatment includes a balanced diet, regular exercise and medication when prescribed. According to The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, most people with diabetes can enjoy sugars in limited amounts.

Do sugars cause weight gain?
Sugars themselves do not cause weight gain. Excess body fat results when a person eats more calories than needed. Extra calories may come from any caloric nutrient (proteins, fats, alcohol and carbohydrates). Lack of physical activity also plays a significant role in obesity.

Do sugars cause hypoglycemia?
True hypoglycemia is very rare. It results from an underlying illness that affects the body’s ability to maintain its blood sugar level. In hypoglycemia, blood sugar levels fall below normal. Symptoms such as shakiness and headaches may occur.

Sugars do not unusually affect blood sugar levels in healthy persons. Low blood sugar levels occur most often in people with diabetes who take too much insulin. The treatment in this case is to eat sugars such as those found in fruit juice, sugar cubes, hard candy or soft drinks.

Do sugars cause tooth decay?
Tooth decay is the result of many factors, including heredity and the make-up and flow of saliva. Sugars and other carbohydrates such as starchy foods also play a part. Bacteria on the teeth (dental plaque) feed on carbohydrates and make acids. The acids then break down the tooth to form a cavity.

Frequent snacks of foods that contain carbohydrates, especially those that stick to the teeth, may increase chances of decay.

The use of fluoride and better dental care has led to a decline of tooth decay in recent years. Experts also advise a balanced diet and brushing teeth after meals and snacks.

“Baby bottle mouth syndrome” is a significant cause of tooth decay in young children. Infants should not sleep with bottles filled with any carbohydrate-containing liquid. This includes milk, formula and fruit juice.

Sugars Used in Foods

Fructose—A monosaccharide or single sugar found in fruits, honey, and root vegetables. In nature, it combines with glucose to form sucrose and does not occur in isolation, it is always found with another sugar. About 1 1/2 times sweeter than sucrose. Glucose—A monosaccharide or single sugar found naturally in corn. In nature, it combines with fructose to form sucrose. It can also combine with glucose to form maltose, and with galactose to form lactose. Slightly less sweet than sucrose, glucose is the primary energy source for the body and the only source used by brain cells.

High fructose corn syrup (HFCS)—A liquid mixture of about equal parts of glucose and fructose from cornstarch. Same sweetness as sucrose.

Sucrose—A disaccharide or double sugar made of equal parts of glucose and fructose. Known as table or white sugar, sucrose is found naturally in fruits and vegetables. Appearing most abundantly in sugar cane and sugar beets, sucrose comes from these foods for commercial use.

Other sugars often used in foods include:
Corn Syrup
Lactose
Dextrose
Maltose
Invert Sugar

How Products Are Made

Before the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, sugarcane (from which sugar is made) was harvested on the shores of the Bay of Bengal; it spread to the surrounding territories of Malaysia, Indonesia, Indochina, and southern China. The Arabic people introduced "sugar" (at that point a sticky paste, semi-crystallized and believed to have medicinal value) to the Western world by bringing both the reed and knowledge for its cultivation to Sicily and then Spain in the eighth and ninth centuries. Later, Venice—importing finished sugar from Alexandria—succeeded in establishing a monopoly over this new spice by the fifteenth century; at that point, it started buying raw sugar, and even sugarcane, and treating it in its own refineries. Venice's monopoly, however, was short-lived. In 1498, Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama returned from South Asia bringing the sweet flavoring to Portugal. Lisbon started to import and refine raw sugar, and, in the sixteenth century, it became the west Asian sugar capital. It was not long before the sweetener was available in France, where its primary function continued to be medicinal, and during the reign of Louis XIV, sugar could be bought by the ounce at the apothecary. By the 1800s, sugar (though still expensive) was widely available to both upper and middle classes.

Raw Materials Raw Materials

Sugar is a broad term applied to a large number of carbohydrates present in many plants and characterized by a more or less sweet taste. The primary sugar, glucose, is a product of photosynthesis and occurs in all green plants. In most plants, the sugars occur as a mixture that cannot readily be separated into the components. In the sap of some plants, the sugar mixtures are condensed into syrup. Juices of sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum) and sugar beet (Beta vulgaris) are rich in pure sucrose, although beet sugar is generally much less sweet than cane sugar. These two sugar crops are the main sources of commercial sucrose.

The sugarcane is a thick, tall, perennial grass that flourishes in tropical or subtropical regions. Sugar synthesized in the leaves is used as a source of energy for growth or is sent to the stalks for storage. It is the sweet sap in the stalks that is the source of sugar as we know it. The reed accumulates sugar to about 15 percent of its weight. Sugarcane yields about 2,600,000 tons of sugar per year.

The sugar beet is a beetroot variety with the highest sugar content, for which it is specifically cultivated. While typically white both inside and out, some beet varieties have black or yellow skins. About 3,700,000 tons of sugar are manufactured from sugar beet.

Other sugar crops include sweet sorghum, sugar maple, honey, and corn sugar. The types of sugar used today are white sugar (fully refined sugar), composed of clear, colorless or crystal fragments; or brown sugar, which is less fully refined and contains a greater amount of treacle residue, from which it obtains its color.

The Manufacturing Process

Planting and harvesting

1 Sugarcane requires an average temperature of 75 degrees Fahrenheit (23.9 degrees In the United States, harvesting of both cane and sugar beet is done primarily by machine, although in some states it is also done by hand. The harvested cane stalks and beets are loaded mechanically into trucks or railroad cars and taken to mills for processing into raw sugar. Once there, they are cleaned, washed, milled to extract juice, filtered, and purified. The result is a clear, sugar-filled juice. In the United States, harvesting of both cane and sugar beet is done primarily by machine, although in some states it is also done by hand. The harvested cane stalks and beets are loaded mechanically into trucks or railroad cars and taken to mills for processing into raw sugar. Once there, they are cleaned, washed, milled to extract juice, filtered, and purified. The result is a clear, sugar-filled juice. Celsius) and uniform rainfall of about 80 inches (203 centimeters) per year. Therefore, it is grown in tropical or subtropical areas.

Sugarcane takes about seven months to mature in a tropical area and about 12-22 months in a subtropical area. At this time, fields of sugarcane are tested for sucrose, and the most mature fields are harvested first. In Florida, Hawaii, and Texas, standing cane is fired to burn off the dry leaves. In Louisiana, the six- to ten-feet (1.8- to 3-meter) tall cane stalks are cut down and laid on the ground before burning.

2 In the United States, harvesting (of both cane and sugar beet) is done primarily by machine, although in some states it is also done by hand. The harvested cane stalks are loaded mechanically into trucks or railroad cars and taken to mills for processing into raw sugar.

Preparation and processing

3 After the cane arrives at the mill yards, it is mechanically unloaded, and excessive soil and rocks are removed. The cane is cleaned by flooding the carrier with warm water (in the case of sparse rock and trash clutter) or by spreading the cane on agitating conveyors that pass through strong jets of water and combing drums (to remove larger amounts of rocks, trash, and leaves, etc.). At this point, the cane is clean and ready to be milled.

When the beets are delivered at the refinery, they are first washed and then cut into strips. Next, they are put into diffusion cells with After being purifed, the clear juice undergoes vacuum evaporation to remove most of the water. In this process, four vacuum-boiling cells are arranged in series so that each succeeding cell has a higher vacuum. The vapors from one body can thus boil the juice in the next one, a method called multiple-effect evaporation. Next, the syrupy solution is vacuum-crystallized to form sugar crystals. The remaining liquid is removed using centrifugaling and drying, and the sugar is packaged. After being purifed, the clear juice undergoes vacuum evaporation to remove most of the water. In this process, four vacuum-boiling cells are arranged in series so that each succeeding cell has a higher vacuum. The vapors from one body can thus boil the juice in the next one, a method called multiple-effect evaporation. Next, the syrupy solution is vacuum-crystallized to form sugar crystals. The remaining liquid is removed using centrifugaling and drying, and the sugar is packaged. water at about 175 degrees Fahrenheit (79.4 degrees Celsius) and sprayed with hot water countercurrently to remove the sucrose.

Juice extraction pressing

4 Two or three heavily grooved crusher rollers break the cane and extract a large part of the juice, or swing-hammer type shredders (1,200 RPM) shred the cane without extracting the juice. Revolving knives cutting the stalks into chips are supplementary to the crushers. (In most countries, the shredder precedes the crusher.) A combination of two, or even all three, methods may be used. The pressing process involves crushing the stalks between the heavy and grooved metal rollers to separate the fiber (bagasse) from the juice that contains the sugar.

5 As the cane is crushed, hot water (or a combination of hot water and recovered impure juice) is sprayed onto the crushed cane countercurrently as it leaves each mill for diluting. The extracted juice, called vesou, contains 95 percent or more of the sucrose present. The mass is then diffused, a process that involves finely cutting or shredding the stalks. Next, the sugar is separated from the cut stalks by dissolving it in hot water or hot juice.

Purification of juice — clarification and evaporation

6 The juice from the mills, a dark green color, is acid and turbid. The clarification (or defecation) process is designed to remove both soluble and insoluble impurities (such as sand, soil, and ground rock) that have not been removed by preliminary screening. The process employs lime and heat as the clarifying agents. Milk of lime (about one pound per ton of cane) neutralizes the natural acidity of the juice, forming insoluble lime salts. Heating the lime juice to boiling coagulates the albumin and some of the fats, waxes, and gums, and the precipitate formed entraps suspended solids as well as the minute particles.

The sugar beet solution, on the other hand, is purified by precipitating calcium carbonate, calcium sulfite, or both in it repeatedly. Impurities become entangled in the growing crystals of precipitate and are removed by continuous filtration.

7 The muds separate from the clear juice through sedimentation. The non-sugar impurities are removed by continuous filtration. The final clarified juice contains about 85 percent water and has the same composition as the raw extracted juice except for the removed impurities.

8 To concentrate this clarified juice, about two-thirds of the water is removed through vacuum evaporation. Generally, four vacuum-boiling cells or bodies are arranged in series so that each succeeding body has a higher vacuum (and therefore boils at a lower temperature). The vapors from one body can thus boil the juice in the next one—the steam introduced into the first cell does what is called multiple-effect evaporation. The vapor from the last cell goes to a condenser. The syrup leaves the last body continuously with about 65 percent solids and 35 percent water.

The sugar beet sucrose solution, at this point, is also nearly colorless, and it likewise undergoes multiple-effect vacuum evaporation. The syrup is seeded, cooled, and put in a centrifuge machine. The finished beet crystals are washed with water and dried.

Crystallization

9 Crystallization is the next step in the manufacture of sugar. Crystallization takes place in a single-stage vacuum pan. The syrup is evaporated until saturated with sugar. As soon as the saturation point has been exceeded, small grains of sugar are added to the pan, or "strike." These small grains, called seed, serve as nuclei for the formation of sugar crystals. (Seed grain is formed by adding 56 ounces [1,600 grams] of white sugar into the bowl of a slurry machine and mixing with 3.3 parts of a liquid mixture: 70 percent methylated spirit and 30 percent glycerine. The machine runs at 200 RPM for 15 hours.) Additional syrup is added to the strike and evaporated so that the original crystals that were formed are allowed to grow in size.

The growth of the crystals continues until the pan is full. When sucrose concentration reaches the desired level, the dense mixture of syrup and sugar crystals, called massecuite, is discharged into large containers known as crystallizers. Crystallization continues in the crystallizers as the massecuite is slowly stirred and cooled.

10 Massecuite from the mixers is allowed to flow into centrifugals, where the thick syrup, or molasses, is separated from the raw sugar by centrifugal force.

Centrifugaling

11 The high-speed centrifugal action used to separate the massecuite into raw sugar crystals and molasses is done in revolving machines called centrifugals. A centrifugal machine has a cylindrical basket suspended on a spindle, with perforated sides lined with wire cloth, inside which are metal sheets containing 400 to 600 perforations per square inch. The basket revolves at speeds from 1,000 to 1,800 RPM. The raw sugar is retained in the centrifuge basket because the perforated lining retains the sugar crystals. The mother liquor, or molasses, passes through the lining (due to the centrifugal force exerted). The final molasses (blackstrap molasses) containing sucrose, reducing sugars, organic nonsugars, ash, and water, is sent to large storage tanks.

Once the sugar is centrifuged, it is "cut down" and sent to a granulator for drying. In some countries, sugarcane is processed in small factories without the use of centrifuges, and a dark-brown product (noncentrifugal sugar) is produced. Centrifugal sugar is produced in more than 60 countries while noncentrifugal sugar in about twenty countries.

Drying and packaging

12 Damp sugar crystals are dried by being tumbled through heated air in a granulator. The dry sugar crystals are then sorted by size through vibrating screens and placed into storage bins. Sugar is then sent to be packed in the familiar packaging we see in grocery stores, in bulk packaging, or in liquid form for industrial use.

Byproducts

The bagasse produced after extracting the juice from sugar cane is used as fuel to generate steam in factories. Increasingly large amounts of bagasse are being made into paper, insulating board, and hardboard, as well as furfural, a chemical intermediate for the synthesis of furan and tetrahydrofuran.

The beet tops and extracted slices as well the molasses are used as feed for cattle. It has been shown that more feed for cattle and other such animals can be produced per acre-year from beets than from any other crop widely grown in the United States. The beet strips are also treated chemically to facilitate the extraction of commercial pectin.

The end product derived from sugar refining is blackstrap molasses. It is used in cattle feed as well as in the production of industrial alcohol, yeast, organic chemicals, and rum.

Quality Control

Mill sanitation is an important factor in quality control measures. Bacteriologists have shown that a small amount of sour bagasse can infect the whole stream of warm juice flowing over it. Modern mills have self-cleaning troughs with a slope designed in such a way that bagasse does not hold up but flows out with the juice stream. Strict measures are taken for insect and pest controls.

Because cane spoils relatively quickly, great steps have been taken to automate the methods of transportation and get the cane to the mills as quickly as possible. Maintaining the high quality of the end-product means storing brown and yellow refined sugars (which contain two percent to five percent moisture) in a cool and relatively moist atmosphere, so that they continue to retain their moisture and do not become hard.

Most granulated sugars comply with standards established by the National Food Processors Association and the pharmaceutical industry (U.S. Pharmacopeia, National Formulary).

Where To Learn More

What should your glucose levels be?

Or
Fating blood sugar less than 110 mg/dl
70 to 110 mg/dl
After eating 110 to 140 mg/dl
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Last Updated: May 18, 2022