4.2.2. Crushing
Sugarcane processing involves crop burning and moisture loss
at maturity stage for enhancing manual harvest efficiency and
sugar content. Sugarcane surface retains the atmospheric PAHs
which during crushing gets transferred to juices and contaminates
spirits, cachacas and sugars (Tfouni et al., 2009). PAHs in sugarcane
juices before sugar formation was higher when burnt canes are
preferred over non-burned canes (Tfouni et al., 2009).