What Is Icumsa and Why Does It Matter for Food Manufacturers?
What Is Icumsa and Why Does It Matter for Food Manufacturers?
A practical explainer on how sugar colour is measured, and what different Icumsa ratings mean when specifying sugar for food and beverage production.
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By Alex Barbieri
If you've ever received a sugar specification sheet and seen a number like "45 Icumsa" or "2500 Icumsa" without a clear explanation of what it means, you're not alone. Icumsa (the International Commission for Uniform Methods of Sugar Analysis) is the global standard for measuring the colour purity of sugar — and understanding it is essential when sourcing the right product for your application.
The scale works inversely: the lower the Icumsa number, the whiter and purer the sugar. White refined sugar, the grade approved by the world's largest food and beverage manufacturers, sits at a maximum of 45 Icumsa units. It's the benchmark for applications where colour and cleanliness of flavour are non-negotiable — think confectionery, clear beverages, and dairy products.
Move up the scale and you encounter white crystal sugar, which is cost-effective for applications like chocolate, biscuits, and beverage manufacturing where price efficiency outweighs the need for maximum whiteness. Golden granulated (VHP) sugar sits around 1300 Icumsa — suitable for a wide range of baking applications. Demerara, with its characteristic caramel depth, runs between 2500 and 2800 Icumsa units.
For manufacturers, specifying the correct Icumsa grade upfront avoids costly reformulation, batch rejections, and supplier disputes. At Abercore, we work closely with clients to match the right grade, origin, and packing format to their exact production requirements — whether that's bulk delivery from EU beet producers or containerised cane sugar from further afield.
If you've ever received a sugar specification sheet and seen a number like "45 Icumsa" or "2500 Icumsa" without a clear explanation of what it means, you're not alone. Icumsa (the International Commission for Uniform Methods of Sugar Analysis) is the global standard for measuring the colour purity of sugar — and understanding it is essential when sourcing the right product for your application.
The scale works inversely: the lower the Icumsa number, the whiter and purer the sugar. White refined sugar, the grade approved by the world's largest food and beverage manufacturers, sits at a maximum of 45 Icumsa units. It's the benchmark for applications where colour and cleanliness of flavour are non-negotiable — think confectionery, clear beverages, and dairy products.
Move up the scale and you encounter white crystal sugar, which is cost-effective for applications like chocolate, biscuits, and beverage manufacturing where price efficiency outweighs the need for maximum whiteness. Golden granulated (VHP) sugar sits around 1300 Icumsa — suitable for a wide range of baking applications. Demerara, with its characteristic caramel depth, runs between 2500 and 2800 Icumsa units.
For manufacturers, specifying the correct Icumsa grade upfront avoids costly reformulation, batch rejections, and supplier disputes. At Abercore, we work closely with clients to match the right grade, origin, and packing format to their exact production requirements — whether that's bulk delivery from EU beet producers or containerised cane sugar from further afield.
