Editing Treacle (section)

==Production==
Treacle is made from the syrup that remains after sugar is [[Sugarcane#Refining|refined]]. Raw sugars are first treated in a process called [[Sugar_refinery#Affination|affination]]. When dissolved, the resulting liquor contains the minimum of dissolved non-sugars to be removed by treatment with [[activated carbon]] or [[bone char]]. The dark-coloured washings{{Clarify|date=February 2011}} are treated separately, without carbon or bone char. They are boiled to grain (i.e. until sugar crystals precipitate out) in a vacuum pan, forming a low-grade {{lang|fr|masse cuite}} (boiled mass) which is [[centrifuge]]d, yielding a brown sugar and a liquid by-product—''treacle''.<ref>Heriot p 392</ref> 

Black treacle naturally contains relatively high levels of sulphite (>100 ppm, expressed in sulphur dioxide equivalent). These levels are deemed safe for the majority of the population. However, some allergic and respiratory reactions have been reported particularly amongst asthmatics. As such, that the United States Food and Drug Administration requires that levels over 10ppm, i.e. >10 mg/kg, be declared on the ingredients label.<ref>Bindu Nair and Amy R. Elmore, Final Report on the Safety Assessment of Sodium Sulfite, Potassium Sulfite, Ammonium Sulfite, Sodium Bisulfite, Ammonium Bisulfite, Sodium Metabisulfite and Potassium Metabisulfite, ''International Journal of Toxicology'' 22(Suppl. 2):63–88, 2003, page 67, [https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/10915810390239478] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220517182706/https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/10915810390239478|date=2022-05-17}}</ref>