A Carbon-Free Curiosity

Sep
11

Posted by Faith Hayden on September 11, 2009 in Chemistry and Food, Chemistry is Everywhere

carbonfree A friend of mine sent me this peculiar photo of carbon-free sugar and I couldn’t help but wonder: What in the world is hiding in this bag? Because the last time I checked, sugar was composed of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. Carbon isn’t exactly a negotiable ingredient within this tasty trifecta.

A quick visit to the Florida Crystals website, however, reveals the truly unfortunate nature of this wording. In the organic sugar world, “carbon-free” doesn’t mean the sugar is free of carbon. It apparently means the sugar has a low carbon footprint.

Whew! Glad I cleared that up.  Carbon-free “sugar” isn’t anything I want going anywhere near my morning coffee. It’d probably just water it down.

1 Comment on A Carbon-Free Curiosity

By Lars Fischer on September 15, 2009 at 9:16 am

This seems to be a novel variant of the nearly ubiquituous “chemistry-free” marketing shtick. I guess it was just a matter of time until someone went there…

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About the Author

Faith Hayden in an Assistant Editor with C&EN. She received her B.A. in Journalism from Loyola College in 2004, and is currently working on a Master's in Nonfiction Writing at Johns Hopkins.

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