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Abstract
Sugar is the primary sweetener in the United States. Domestically refined beet sugar processed from U.S. -grown sugar beets accounts for about 30 percent of U. S. sugar consumption, while the remaining 70 percent consists of refined cane sugar. About 30 percent of domestic sugar consumption (about 43 percent of cane sugar consumption) is supplied by raw sugar processed from sugarcane grown in Florida, Louisiana, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. Nearly all the remaining 40 percent of domestic consumption consists of imports of raw sugar from 30 or more countries. A negligible portion of consumption consists of imported refined sugar, mostly cane. Both imported and domestic raw cane sugar are processed into refined cane sugar in the 25 refineries in the United States, located mostly on the East and Gulf Coasts. The corn sweetener industry manufactures dextrose (refined corn sugar) and corn sirup from hydrolized corn starch. These corn sweeteners are produced by the corn-wet-milling industry. Non-caloric sweeteners consist of saccharin and cyclamate, which are manufactured from petroleum or coal-tar products. Saccharin is about 300 times sweeter than sugar and cyclamate is about 30 times sweeter.