Howdy justadream-ga,
Greatly appreciate you accepting this as an answer to your question.
Let's start off with a few definitions.
Activated carbon (AC) as defined by the North Dakota State University (NDSU)
Extension Service.
http://www.ext.nodak.edu/extpubs/h2oqual/watsys/ae1029w.htm
"AC is made of tiny clusters of carbon atoms stacked upon one another. The
carbon source is a variety of materials, such as peanut shells or coal."
Wikipedia, the "free encyclopedia," has a definition of bone char.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bone_char
"Bone char, also known as bone black or animal charcoal, is a granular black
material produced by calcinating animal bones: the bones are heated to high
temperatures in the absence of air to drive off volatile substances."
Now, to your question.
I have found no evidence, at all, that bone char (also known as bone black,
bone coal, animal charcoal, boneblack or cow bone, that is, a cattle based
substance) is used as an activated charcoal in the refining of edible oils,
such as soybean, canola, olive oil, etc.
On the other hand, the only industry that uses bone char in the refining
of an edible substance appears to be some sugar processors. As I have
readily found all sorts of references to bone char used in that capacity
on vegan, etc. web sites, and have not found any reference to it being
used in the refining of edible oils on those or other sites, these sites
are either highly remiss, which is very unlikely, or bone char is simply
not used in edible oil processing, a much more likely conclusion.
Here is one such typical entry from a vegan web site on the use of bone
char. Please note that they do not mention, as one would expect if it
were the case, the use of bone char in the processing of edible oils.
http://www.veganproductstandards.org/ingredients.html
"Bone Charcoal. A black pigment containing about 10% charcoal made by
roasting bones in an airtight container. Used in aquarium filters and in
refining cane sugar. In eye shadows, polishes."
This Vegetarian Network Victoria web page speaks to oils and other foods,
but the only reference to bone char is in conjunction with sugar.
http://www.vnv.org.au/ProductsOther.htm
"Refined sugar is avoided by some vegetarians/vegans because an activated
carbon filter made of animal bone char may be used in the refining process."
As the above reference, this kuruvinda.com web page goes into detail about
edible oils and what additives and processes might raise concern, but the
only mention of bone char is in regards with sugar processing.
http://www.kuruvinda.com/nutrition.php?c=17
"An animal (cow bone) filter is often used in its [cane sugar] processing."
The Wikipedia "Vegetarian cuisine" entry speaks to all sorts of vegetarian
dishes, but again, bone char only comes up when speaking of sugar.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegetarian_cuisine
"... some sugars that are whitened with bone char ..."
This "Viva! USA" entry on "Vegan Basics" discusses the practice of veganism,
and here is their only mention of bone char, but again, only about sugar.
http://www.vivausa.org/activistresources/guides/veganbasics1.htm
"Cane sugar is sometimes processed through bone char so some vegans avoid
eating it."
There are many such references as shown above, but you get the idea. You
can look at far more with this Google search.
sugar "bone char"
://www.google.com/search?q=sugar+%22bone+char%22
In fact, I could find only two references to bone char being used to refine
any oils at all, and both of those in nonedible use, and neither in any type
of commercial production, but rather in "home" processing.
Tea plant - Teaseed oil
http://www.ibiblio.org/pfaf/cgi-bin/arr_html?Camellia+sinensis&CAN=COMIND
"A clear golden-yellow edible oil resembling sasanqua oil is obtained from
the seed ... The oil needs to be refined before it is eaten.
...
A non-drying oil is obtained from the seeds. Refined teaseed oil, made by
removing the free fatty acids with caustic soda, then bleaching the oil with
Fuller's earth and a sprinkling of bone black, makes an oil suitable for use
in manufacture of sanctuary or signal oil for burning purposes, and in all
respects is considered a favourable substitute for rapeseed, olive, or lard
oils."
Castor Oil
http://journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_fixoil.html
"Is made by pressing the beans, cold or slightly warmed. It may be rendered
colorless and odorless by filtering through animal charcoal and magnesia. It
is soluble in strong alcohol, and is used as the basis of many hairoils."
The activated charcoal that is used in refining edible oils comes from
several sources, such as wood and coconut husks. The following search
on Google will produce more information on that subject.
"edible oil" OR "edible oils" "activated charcoal" OR "activated carbon"
://www.google.com/search?q=%22edible+oil%22+OR+%22edible+oils%22+%22activated+charcoal%22+OR+%22activated+carbon%22
If you need any clarification, please feel free to ask.
Search strategy:
I did numerous searches using the following terms in various combinations
on Google. Most of the actual queries are too long to present here.
oil
"edible oil"
"bone char"
"Bone black"
"Bone coal"
"animal charcoal"
boneblack
"cow bone"
sugar
I used search modifiers, such as OR to combine the various terms for bone
char in my queries, such as:
"bone char" OR "Bone black" OR "Bone coal" OR "animal charcoal" OR ...
I also removed words, such as sugar, so as to eliminate some of the "noise"
from my searches with: -sugar
Looking Forward, denco-ga - Google Answers Researcher |
