How to read an ICUMSA 45 specification sheet, and the lab report that should follow it.

Three documents that get confused

I see this all the time: a buyer asks for proof of the cargo and gets a spec sheet back. That answers a question nobody asked. A certificate the seller emails before anything is agreed doesn’t prove much either. See how sugar fraud actually works.

The six lines that carry ICUMSA 45

The Brazilian column is the refinado granulado class in the Ministry of Agriculture’s sugar standard, IN 47/2018, whose class table sets polarisation, moisture, colour and ash, among others. *Polarisation and SO₂ are in the body of the Codex standard; the other Codex figures sit in an annex meant for voluntary use between trading partners. ICUMSA 45 is tighter than both columns on colour, and matches the limit in the ICE white sugar futures contract, which also sets polarisation at 99.8° minimum and moisture at 0.06% maximum. A sheet looser than the Codex white sugar column is describing a looser sugar than refined white.

Read the words around each number too. Is it a maximum or a minimum? What is the unit, and is it on a dry basis? A figure with no “max” or “min” isn’t a promise. The methods, and how far two labs can fairly disagree, are in what ICUMSA means.

SO₂: the line that shows whether a sheet was read

Codex sets sulphur dioxide by class of sugar: 15 mg/kg for white sugar, 20 for soft white, soft brown and raw cane sugar, and 70 for plantation or mill white sugar. A sheet that says ICUMSA 45 and SO₂ 70 mg/kg has borrowed the plantation white figure, which belongs to the grade the trade sells as ICUMSA 150. On a 150 sheet, 70 is right. On a 45 sheet, ask for the corrected line and what the lot actually measured.

Lines that look technical but promise little

• “Solubility 100%, dry and free flowing.” Sucrose dissolves. The measurable version is insoluble matter, ICUMSA method GS2-19.
• “Granulation: fine standard.” There is no size in it. If crystal size matters to your plant, ask for it in millimetres, with the method (GS2-37).
• “Sparkling white”, “free of any smell”, “sediments: none”. Nobody can measure an adjective.
• “Radiation: normal, without presence of cesium or iodine.” No figure and no method. If your country requires a radioactivity test, its regulation sets the limit and the lab reports against it.
• “Crop: recent.” Fine, but the production date of the lot belongs on the certificate.

I wouldn’t walk away over any of them. I just wouldn’t count them as evidence of anything.

Heavy metals and microbiology are not in the Codex sugar standard

Many sheets carry arsenic 1 ppm, lead 2 ppm and copper 3 ppm. In my experience that trio is trade custom, copied from sheet to sheet. The Codex standard for sugars doesn’t set it: for metals it points to the limits Codex sets elsewhere, and for hygiene it points to general codes of practice, with no numeric microbiological limits for sugar. So when a seller says “Codex limits” for metals or bacteria, ask which text. The limits that bind you are your own country’s, and the contract should say that a tighter destination limit governs. Salmonella has no ICUMSA method; laboratories test for it under ISO 6579-1.

Signs a sheet was copied, not read

• Colour in “RBU”, or a method cited only by an old number like “Method # 10-1978” (I have seen this one often), instead of ICUMSA units with a current method. ICUMSA has renumbered its white sugar methods: GS2/3-10 is now GS2-10.
• A raw sugar colour method, GS1-7, on a white sugar sheet.
• An element that doesn’t exist, such as “OS 2 ppm” or “PS 2 ppm”, in the slot between arsenic (As) and copper (Cu) where lead (Pb) belongs.
• SO₂ 70 mg/kg on ICUMSA 45.
• A range that ends in “maximum”, like “0.08% to 0.10% maximum”, or a minimum for a contaminant.

I have seen every one of these on sheets from genuine producers. They usually mean a template was passed along without anyone reading it, so they don’t prove the sugar is fake. They still matter. The inspector’s certificate will report lead as Pb, and a contract line the certificate can’t match is an argument waiting to happen, at the bank or in arbitration. Get the sheet corrected before any line goes into a contract. When I pass a sheet to a buyer, I correct those lines first.

How to read the lab report

• Who the laboratory is, where it is, and whether it is accredited for these tests. ISO/IEC 17025 is the international standard for the competence of testing laboratories.
• Who drew the sample, from which lot or bags, and when. “Sample as received” means the lab stands behind its test. It says nothing about where the sugar came from.
• A measured number on every line, with its unit. “Conforms” or “<45” tells you much less than “38 IU”.
• The method and its year on every line, the same methods your contract names.
• The test date, and which lot the sample belongs to.

A supermarket pack is not ICUMSA 45

If you test Brazilian sugar bought in a shop, expect it to miss an ICUMSA 45 sheet. IN 47/2018 names its refinado amorfo class “refinado amorfo ou refinado”, so a pack labelled plain açúcar refinado, the fine white sugar on Brazilian supermarket shelves, is that class: polarisation from 99.00°Z, moisture up to 0.30%, colour up to 100 IU and ash up to 0.20%. The export grade is the refinado granulado class in the table above. So a shop pack will usually test worse than an ICUMSA 45 sheet, and it tells you nothing about the cargo.

What to put in the contract

• each of the six lines as a maximum or minimum, with its unit and its ICUMSA method and year;
• your country’s limits for metals, residues and microbiology, stated to govern where they are tighter;
• a certificate of analysis for the lot, with measured values;
• the independent inspector, and the inspection certificate as a document your bank requires. See what protects you if sugar arrives off-spec.