Searching for Ethical Sugar

Rarely, though, do we consider sugar’s implications on planetary health, or the wellbeing of the farmers and other workers responsible for getting it to us. This in spite of the fact some challenges in its production are similar to those for crops like cocoa, bananas, palm oil that grab headlines for destroying habitat, contaminating soil and water, supplying poverty-level wages, and relying on trafficked and enslaved labor.

Unlike these other crops, though, sugar — the stand-alone product as well as the ingredient — is lacking in traceability. Want to know where the sugar in your jar or your jam or your juice came from? “That requires consumers to do their own investigations, which is a luxury only for the most affluent,” says Alex Bjork, a senior director in private sector engagement for World Wildlife Fund (WWF), which is part of an international consortium, called Bonsucro, that certifies sustainable sugarcane. Even for those willing to take research into their own hands, there’s not much consumers can learn about the source of their sugar, unless a company wishes it to be so.

Sugar Grown Outside the US

The US’s Country of Origin Labeling law (COOL) requires retailers to include information on where fruits and vegetables, fish, certain nuts, and some cuts of meat originated. But COOL doesn’t apply to sugar, even though about 30 percent of our supply is imported from Central and South America, Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean, according to industry group Sugar Association.

Even sugar that claims it was made in the USA may not have been grown within our borders; rather, it may have been imported in the form of raw cane sugar and merely refined here. “That lack of [full] traceability, along with the fact that sugar is often embedded with other ingredients, makes it hard for consumers to connect” social and environmental issues with it, says Fairtrade America COO Bryan Lew.

Thanks to this knowledge vacuum, you might never realize that the sugar you’re eating came from Brazil, for example, where some large-scale operations may clear-cut forest to make way for sugarcane plantations, displacing both indigenous people and wildlife. Or that it originated in US preferential trade partner regions like the Dominican Republic, where, Bjork says, clearcutting’s not an issue because “A lot of conversion happened there centuries ago” — but labor and human rights violations, like slavery, still exist.

This dearth of knowing “continues to put sugar farmers at risk for worse working conditions,” says Lew, because consumers might be unaware that these issues exist in the first place, let alone understand the need to advocate for ethical sugar.

Finding Ethical Sugar on the Shelves

Where does this leave consumers hoping to support ethical practices with their sugar-buying dollars? Labels can help a bit. Lew says he’s starting to see craft soda makers proclaiming their use of cane sugar, which differentiates them from beverage makers that use high fructose corn syrup or beet sugar and the problems that come with the highly processed sweetener and GMOs.

Bjork advises scanning products to see if a brand mentions sourcing on its packaging: “Does it talk about origins, or what it’s doing with farmers to reduce impacts and support livelihoods?”

The Fairtrade label means that you’ll be eating sugar and sugar-containing products that are non-GMO — again, for the moment, that means cane sugar, although Bjork notes that GMO sugarcane will likely hit the market in force in the next five years. It also means you’re supporting smallholder farmers who are paid fair wages and are not allowed to employ forced or child laborers. Fairtrade products are also mandated to improve soil fertility and water quality, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and take measures to protect biodiversity. Another positive for sustainability, says Lew, is that some farmers are growing sugarcane outside a monoculture system, in conjunction with shade-providing cocoa and bananas.

Companies like Tony’s Chocolonely and Ben & Jerry’s manufacture products containing not only Fairtrade sugar, but Fairtrade cocoa, bananas, vanilla, coffee, almonds, and other ingredients as well.

There are a number of organic bag sugar brands on the market: from Kirkland, Wholesome, even Florida Crystals. But even though soil health benefits here, laborers don’t necessarily, since the USDA organic standard does not include standards for workers. To that end, both Trader Joe’s and Tate and Lyle offer Fairtrade third-party-certified organic sugar that provides assurances of fair working conditions. For sugar-containing products, USDA Organic allows for four different labels, indicating if 100, 95, at least 70, and less than 70 percent of ingredients used are organic.

You won’t find evidence of Bonsucro certification on consumer-facing labels. Instead, the organization compels very large corporations like Coca-Cola and Unilever to purchase traceable cane sugar produced in accordance with seven standards that touch on fair labor and improved sustainability and biodiversity, and to incorporate it along their supply chains. “We’re focused on global platforms to try to set expectations and standards for sourcing that can send strong market signals and drive change,” says Bjork.

Neither Fairtrade nor Bonsucro work with any US-based sugar producers, although Bjork says there are some mills that could easily qualify for Bonsucro if the certification could gain traction among large-scale producers here. Will it? That’s anyone’s guess.

“Right now it’s a race to bottom for price, and people in many sectors are producing sugar in cheapest way possible,” says Lew. “If this were easy to fix, we would have been there a long time ago.”

Top photo by New Africa/ Adobe Stock.