National Real Sugar day celebrations return for October
Sugarbeet farmers in the US were set to benefit from a multi-billion package of farming support in latest US legislation, as the sector celebrates national real sugar day. Pic: Adobestock
The Sugar Association is set to celebrate National Real Sugar Day on October 15, recognising the key ingredient’s role in a wide range of products including across confectionery and snacks, writes Neill Barston.
Having established the occasion in 2022, the organisation noted that its aims are to highlight the people and agriculture behind a long farming tradition that plays an integral role in the wider food chain.
As the association noted, this year’s celebration comes at a time of growing interest in real food and simple ingredients, and the event intends to celebrate sugar’s role as a recognisable ingredient in many product ranges, that is rooted in nature and is at the heart of real recipes and scratch cooking.
Significantly, Sugar Association polling conducted in March 2026 found that 79% of Americans agree that real sugar can be in real food, and 71% believe that real sugar is real food. Further, it found that 80% of Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) supporters agree that real sugar can be in real food, and 75% agree that real sugar is real food. The polling also found that 90% of Americans use real sugar in their cooking and baking, as do 88% of MAHA supporters.
The association also encouraged consumers to join the#NationalRealSugarDay celebration through activities including baking or cooking real food from scratch with #RealSugar to share with family, friends, or online! Sharing recipes or photos online of your favorite foods made with #RealSugar.
As the group asserted, beyond being the gold standard of sweetness, real sugar helps preserve freshness, create color and texture, and balance sour and acidic flavors in food, along with many other roles. This ability to perform so many functions makes real sugar unique and irreplaceable as a single ingredient in real food.
Sugar Association President and CEO Courtney Gaine, Ph.D., RD, noted: “Real sugar keeps our everyday lives and special occasions a little sweeter, and it serves as an essential ingredient in real food from family kitchens to thousands of bakeries, restaurants and businesses. Today, we celebrate real sugar and the 11,000 sugar growers and dedication of countless others who bring it to us. Our hope for this year’s National Real Sugar Day is for everyone to learn one new fact about real sugar and its role in foods.”
