is the 365 brand Vegan Fair Trade Cane Sugar at Whole Foods really vegan?? the label has a lot on it about how fairly traded it is, but not a word about why/how it qualifies as vegan?
Sugarcane is a plant. Plants are vegan.
Whenever I've heard of cane sugar not being vegan, it's because bone char was used in the refining process. Plenty of cane sugar is refined
in other ways, using non-animal charcoal sources. Beet sugar is not charcoal refined. And plenty of cane sugar is not refined at all, including, I think, the 365 brand type you're asking about. (If it's not bright white, it's probably OK.)
The labor standards are probably a bigger ethical concern, really. Bones used in production of bone char are leftovers from animals slaughtered for meat/leather/etc.
And keep in mind that the bone is not actually *in* the sugar, it's just used in producing the end product. Lots of other non-vegan stuff happens along the path from a sugarcane seed being planted to you buying a package of granules at Whole Foods.
