STILL IN THE SWEET WORLD — Sustainability calls for human activities to have a reduced environmental impact, but social factors come into play too.

Social sustainability, says green-energy company Enel, “involves a focus on the well-being of people and communities.”

How does high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) stack up? 

There aren’t handy measurements such as those used by CarbonCloud, so we’re left with questions and guesswork. 

The corn that makes the corn starch is likely grown in the U.S.—the top producer of corn in the world at 354.19 million tons, according to World Grain. 

Who harvests it? And what are their working conditions like? 

The University of Georgia extension lists hazards ranging from dust and mold to explosions. Depending on the farm, workers can be exposed to high doses of pesticides. As with all agricultural work, it’s hard and the equipment (the Penn State Extension warns about pickers and combines) can take hands, fingers, arms or more.

High fructose corn syrup is processed. HFCS is made in the U.S., the U.K., China and Japan. What are worker conditions like?

You can try processing HFCS yourself and get an idea. About a decade ago, artist Maya Weinstein created a DIY HFCS kit for her MFA thesis. The recipe is floating around the internet if you want to try it and have $500 or so to spare for the chemicals needed.

Now, let’s look at sugar. Cane sugar’s history is ugly.

Ten to 12 million enslaved people were sent to the Americas. Many wound up working on sugar plantations in the U.S., Brazil and the Caribbean.

Contra-Tiempo, an L.A.-based activist dance company, created “¡azúcar!,” a multi-media performance about sugar and slavery. 

In 16th-century Jamaica, 60 percent of enslaved people were sent to work on sugar plantations, Contra-Tiempo writes, and by the 19th century, that number swelled to 90 percent.

“Sugar work was brutal on the human body,” the company wrote in a post on the project. “The average lifespan of an enslaved sugar plantation worker was only seven to nine years after arrival in the Americas.”

These days, the U.S. is among the world’s largest sugarcane growers. But in Brazil, for example, children aged 14 to 17 are cultivating sugarcane, although Brazilian law prohibits all children under age 18 from the work. “Individuals, including children, who work in sugarcane production are exposed to long hours and high temperatures, and lack protective equipment,” according to a report released by the Brazilian government. 

In the Dominican Republic (D.R.), Haitian immigrants harvest millions of pounds of raw sugar, according to a 2021 story by the Center for Investigative Reporting. (Read the story, by Sandy Tolan, Euclides Cordero Nuel and the Reveal team, at bit.ly/3TUKV5t.)

The Dominican sugar industry has said that conditions are improving for Haitians, that unions have been formed and that immigrants work in many jobs beyond sugar. (See www.dominicansugar.org/history-of-labor-conditions.)

The U.S. banned imports from the D.R.’s Central Romana Corporation in 2022.