UNITED STATES, April 12, 2012 (vegfamily.com): Most vegans know there is something non-vegan about sugar, but not everyone knows what that is. Bone char, made from the bones of cows, is at times used to whiten sugar. Some sugar companies use it in filters to decolorize their sugar. Other types of filters involve granular carbon or an ion exchange system rather than bone char.
Brown sugar is generally made by adding molasses to refined sugar, so sugar companies that use bone char in the production of their regular sugar will also use it in the production of their brown sugar. Confectioner’s sugar (refined sugar mixed with cornstarch) made by such companies also involves the use of bone char. Fructose may, but does not typically involve a bone-char filter.
If you want to avoid all refined sugars, we recommend alternatives such as Sucanat and turbinado sugar. Neither of these sweeteners are ever filtered with bone char. Additionally, beet sugar–though normally refined–never involves the use of bone char.
For a list of sugar companies that do or do not use bone-char filters see source above.