Plantation White Sugar • Plantation White, Or Mill White, Sugar Is a White Sugar Commonly Produced for Local Consumption in Sugarcane- Growing Countries
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
STUDY ON THE SUBSITUTABILITY OF PLANTATION WHITE FOR REFINED SUGAR IN REGIONAL MANUFACTURING PRESENTED BY THOMAS EDMUND BELIZE OCTOBER, 2019 Outline • Introduction • Technical Study • Case Studies • Conclusions and Recommendations INTRODUCTION Objective of the Study • Provide the CARICOM Secretariat and sugar stakeholders of the Caribbean an assessment of “the substitutability of Plantation White (PW) sugar for refined white sugar in regional manufacturing of beverages and sugar-containing products INTRODUCTION Rationale for Study • Attempt to safeguard regional sugar industry which is still very much of economic importance • Challenge that the domestic markets of sugar-producing countries are small in relation to their sugar output and the need to react • How? Value added processing INTRODUCTION Rationale • Value added processing Belize – production of Plantation white (PW) and direct consumption sugars Santander Sugar Group (2016): Has capacity to produce 60,000MT of sugar (including PW) per crop and to increase this to at least 100,000MT with the intention of producing direct consumption sugar/PW over time. The group is also involved in co-generation and feeds electricity into the Belizean National Grid. BSI/ASR Group: currently produces and supplies PW sugar which is used across all sectors in Belize. The plant will soon have the capacity to produce up to 100,000 MT direct consumption sugar. The entity also supplies electricity to the national grid. INTRODUCTION Rationale • Value added processing Guyana: Guysuco is actively investing in PW production with the aim of producing 50,000 MT within the next 12 - 18 months Prospect of Jamaica and Trinidad being able to supply the region with refined liquid sugar which could be a cost efficient alternative to imported refined sugar Planned investments by the three established sugar companies – BSI/ASR (US$30 mil) and Santander US$200mil for a new mill in Belize and Guysuco (US$70mil) in Guyana Technical Study Sugar Processing and Uses • Four major operations involved in cane sugar processing and include: extraction of raw juice, purification, evaporation, and crystallization. The end-product, raw sugar, is about 96.0-98.5% sucrose, which is further refined to remove the remaining impurities to the extent that the final product is 99.9% sucrose. • Used as a sweetener, filler and preservative. Sugar has major industrial use in bakeries, manufacturing of confectioneries, pharmaceuticals, soft drinks, canned vegetable and dairy products. • Sugar makes up about 10% of the soft drinks content. It is reported that carbonated soft drinks account for 45% of sugar consumption in the soft drink industries. Technical Study Sugar Quality for Soft Drink Industry • Sugar quality features such as color, polarization, sulfur dioxide, iron, lead, arsenic, ash, moisture content, total suspended matter, invert sugar, turbidity, particle size, flocks, odor, taste, total bacteria, yeast and mould counts are commonly used to assess the quality of sugar for carbonated soft drink production. • These quality features are affected by many factors such as variety, maturity level of the cane, weather conditions, diseases, growing-harvesting conditions, cut-to-crush delay and by the processing technology used. Technical Study Plantation White Sugar • Plantation white, or mill white, sugar is a white sugar commonly produced for local consumption in sugarcane- growing countries. It is produced at the factory where it is in some cases” re-melted and impurities (colour) removed and then re-crystallized. It is effectively refined – or what is referred to above as “direct white sugar”. • In some countries (e.g. Latin America, India), the sugar is produced without re-melting and refining of the raw sugar. Instead, sulfur dioxide gas (produced by burning sulfur in air) is injected into extracted juice, where it bleaches juice colorants, is oxidized to sulfate, and then is neutralized by the addition of lime. This is not the case in CARICOM. Technical Study Plantation White Sugar • Higher grades of plantation white are now being produced in some countries by a carbonatation purification process, in which carbon dioxide gas (scrubbed flue gas) is injected into juice and reacted with lime to form calcium carbonate, which absorbs non- sugars and is filtered off. • As demand for high-quality white sugars increases among food processors and beverage manufacturers in tropical areas, the processes described above are being improved and replaced by “Blanco Directo” processes, in which colour-precipitating reagents remove colorants instead of temporarily bleaching them. Technical Study • Plantation White Sugar • Direct White Sugar is white sugar produced at the sugar factor as opposed to a typical refinery where raw sugar is transported and processed to remove colour and impurities (Cortes 2007). These sugars can be produced the application of some or all of the new separation technologies such as membrane separation, the use of adsorbents, and chromatographic separation (Cortes, 2007, Rein, 2008). • The carbonated soft drink industries particularly have a high demand for refined white sugar which must meet strict quality requirements. In the CARICOM region, this refined (white) sugar in most cases is duty free. Technical Study Use of Plantation White Sugar • PW white sugar is known to be used for soft drink manufacturing in many jurisdictions including Belize, Guatemala, Ecuador, Brazil, India and the Philippines. • Some quality limitations in PW sugar can impair soft drink production processes and the final soft drink quality. Some of the common defects that can be related with poor sugar quality are formation of acid beverage flocs (ABF) {which shows as turbidly after floc formation which may take a few days}, other turbidity, alteration of flavor, color and taste Technical Study Use of Plantation White Sugar • There are many reports of Plantation White (PW) Sugar being used in international markets with large sugar industries including Asia/Pacific, Latin American, Africa, and to a lesser extent, the Caribbean region. • Plantation White Sugar also called Mill White Sugar, based on where it is produced, is used with or without further treatment across many international jurisdictions including Brazil, India, China, Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand. • The sugar is also widely used, for example, for direct human consumption and retail trade in countries like India, China, Indonesia, Philippines, East African community (based on reference to their Sugar standards), Latin America and Belize. • Specifications of a major multinational beverage producer (Bowen and Bowen in Belize) would allow sugar of colour less than 200 ICUMSA Colour units to be treated through hot carbon treatment or ion exchange to produce a liquid sugar that would meet the same quality requirements as a refined sugar with 35 Colour ICUMSA. Technical Study Estimate of PW Sugar Used by Country and Manufacturer Brazil Colombia Guatemala Mexico India Volume of PW Sugar 8.9 1.187 0.80 4.7 18.5 (million metric tons)/year Top five purchasers Coca Cola Nestlé Nestlé Bimbo Nestlé of PW Sugar for Pepsi Bavaria Pepsi Nestle Mars food and beverage Nestlé Kraft Ambev Mondelez Mondelez production Ambev Kellogg’s Coca Cola Kraft Britannia Kellogg’s Pepsi-Snack Cervecería Gallo Kellogg’s Division Technical Study Classification Terminology for PW by Country Versus Belize Classification/terminology used Brazil Colombia Guatemala Mexico India Belize for PW with reference to chemical and technical qualities i) Maximum colour (X IU7.0) 130 - 250 400 400 - 600 400 - 600 150 ≤ 200 IU7.0 ii) Polarization (X °Z) 99.7 99.4 99.4 99.4 99.5 ≥ 99.5°Z iii) Ash Content (Conductivity <0.05 - 0.08 <0.05 - 0.08 <0.05 - 0.08 <0.05 - 0.08 <0.10 NA Ash: % m/m) iv) Moisture (Loss on drying; % <0.08 <0.10 <0.06 <0.10 <0.10 <0.05 m/m) v) Insoluble Matter NA NA NA NA NA ≤ 100 vi) Particle Size Distribution NA NA NA NA NA NA (mm) vii) Reflectance Colour NA NA NA NA NA NA Technical Study Caribbean PW, Codex Standard and regional Requirements Parameters ASR (Belize) PW Codex Regional Manufacturing Comments Sugar Specifications Requirements Polarization °Z ≥ 99.5°Z 99.5°Z 99.5 to 99.9°Z Mainly required by soft drink manufacturers Sulphur dioxide Not done since it is not 70 mg/kg (max) Preferably absent used Conductivity Ash (% Not regularly done ≤ 0.1 Not specified m/m) Moisture % (Loss on <0.05 ≤ 0.1 Varies but ≤ 0.06 drying) Color (IU pH7.0) ≤ 200 IU7.0 ≤ 150 IU7.0 Varies but ≤ 30; ≤ 40; and more generally ≤ 45 IU7.0 Insolubles (mg/Kg) ≤ 100 Not specified; Not specified but other standards generally varies; clear range from products would require ≤ 5 to 10mg/Kg; minimal insolubles; others up to ≤ 5 to 10mg/Kg; 150mg/kg Invert Sugar Content (% Not measured ≤ 0.10 ≤ 0.015 to 0.04 m/m) Reducing Sugars Not >0.04% NA NA Molds < 10 CFU/10 g In keeping with ≤ 10 counts/10g max No issues reported Codex Application of Microbiological criteria for Foods (CAC/GL 21- 1997) Technical Study Yeast < 10 CFU/10 g In keeping with Codex Application of Microbiological criteria for Foods (CAC/GL 21-1997) Mesophilic Bacteria < 200 CFU/10 g In keeping with Codex Application of Microbiological criteria for Foods (CAC/GL 21- 1997) Thermophilic Bacteria Not > 1000 CFU/10g In keeping with Codex Application of Microbiological criteria for Foods (CAC/GL 21- 1997) Total Coliforms Zero CFU/10g. Max In keeping with Codex Application of Microbiological criteria for Foods (CAC/GL 21- 1997) Fecal Coliforms Zero NMP/g In