Is sugar vegan?

Sugar itself is made from plants - either sugar cane or sugar beet. The plant material is harvested, crushed, and the sugar crystallised out. Nothing animal is added.

The complication is the whitening step for refined cane sugar. Raw cane sugar is naturally brown because of trace molasses. To get the bright-white sugar most people picture, some refineries pass it through a filter made from charred cattle bones (called "bone char"). The sugar that comes out the other side has no bone particles in it, but the process involves an animal byproduct - which is why it does not qualify as vegan.

Three things determine whether your sugar was bone-char-filtered: source plant, country, and whether it is organic. Beet sugar is never bone-char-filtered (the chemistry does not need it). Cane sugar produced in the EU, UK, Australia, and most of Asia uses granular activated carbon or ion-exchange resins, both vegan, because bone char is largely a North American tradition. Organic cane sugar in any country bypasses bone char regardless - USDA Organic rules prohibit it.

Brown sugar in the US is usually refined white sugar with molasses added back, so the same bone-char question applies. Powdered sugar is just refined sugar plus cornstarch - same story. The safe-bet brands in the US are Wholesome, Florida Crystals (which uses no bone char anywhere in their process), Trader Joe's organic cane sugar, and any product labelled "vegan" or "USDA Organic".

For most people outside the US, you can buy sugar without thinking about it. For people in the US who want to be careful, check the brand's website or look for organic, beet sugar, or a vegan label.