Use of suphur or phosphorus in production of sugar

There was a news item in the Sunday Express dated January 3, 2016 on use of sulpur in the production of white sugar. In the process, SO2 is introduced to affect pH control and for clarification / purification of the sugarcane juice. Later in the production, SO2 is used as bleaching agent to get white sugar. Excess SO2 is taken out of the process. However, traces of sulphur is left behind in the sugar. Intake of higher levels of sulhur is known to cause respiratory diseases. Due to this, the production of white sugar using suphur is banned in some countries and the process is carried out using CO2 (carbonation process) using trace amounts of phosphoric acid. However, the sugar produced in this process is brown in color and not white.

Now why in India, people are crazy to buy white sugar? Brown sugar is good for the health and the government should insist on not using SO2 for sugar factories. Sulphur is a critical nutrient and daily dietary intake is around 800 to 900 milligram per day. Higher intakes may be prescribed for patients with arthritis Sulfur-rich foods include meat, eggs, whole grains, garlic, onions, Brussels sprouts, and cabbage. Excess intake may cause stomach problems, embarrassingly, flatulence and kidney problems. 

Phosphorus is the second plentiful mineral after calcium in the body. It is required for many functions in the body such as filtering waste and repairing tissue and cells. Certain health conditions (such as diabetes and alcoholism) or medications (some antacids) can cause phosphorus levels in your body to drop too low. Phosphorus levels that are too high or too low can cause medical complications, such as heart disease, joint pain, or fatigue. If one replaces sulphur with phosphorus, and the residual phosphorus in the sugar too can cause health issues.

Comment:

The quality assurance during the production of sugar, in either case, is necessary to ensure that residual sulphur or phosphorus in the final product should be within the permissible levels. If such levels are not available, it is time that such limits should be prescribed by the authorities and enforced in the sugar factories. CO2 is a by-product in the distilleries normally attached to the sugar factories. The additional benefit of using carbonation process is the use of CO2 (a greenhouse gas) in the process!