SUGAR
Sugar is made by some plants to store energy that they don't need straight away, rather like animals make fat.
People like sugar for its sweetness and its energy so some of these plants are grown commercially to extract-the sugar.
Sugar is produced in 121 Countries and global production now exceeds 120 Million tons a year. Approximately
70% is produced from sugar cane, a very tall grass with big stems which is largely grown in the tropical
countries. The remaining 30% is produced from sugar beet, a root crop resembling a large parsnip
grown
mostly in the temperate zones of the north.
The world produced about 168 million tonnes of sugar in 2011. The average person consumes about
24 kilograms of
sugar each year (33.1 kg in industrialised countries),
equivalent to over 260 food calories per
person, equivalent to over 260 food calories per person, per day.
The International Commission for Uniform Methods od
Sugar Analisis sets standards for the
measurement of the
purity of refined sugar, known as ICUMSA numbers; lower numbers indicate a higher level of purity in
the refined sugar.
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