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Molasses is one of the by products of sugar production – and, locally, it is usually sold as an animal feed supplement, or to rum distillers.  It’s also exported, likely as a key element in ethanol. 

But something has gone very wrong with the molasses stored at ASR/BSI.  The company issued a release today saying that for the first time in the history of cane production in Belize, there’s been a case of what is known as a Maillard Reaction.  It’s a chemical reaction which heats up the molasses and sort of cooks it, into a blackened solid. 

BSI says it has only affected one tank so far, but the quantity of molasses affected is not known.  Now, this affects ASR/BSI’s bottom line since the molasses cannot be sold – and that means less money for farmers. And now, it’s an issue for the public because disposing of the blackened mass could prove problematic.

BSI says the problem was first observed on July 4th, and it called in the Department of the Environment, and, according to a release, they are, quote, “collaborating on an environmentally sound response to dispose the affected molasses.â€￾  The release goes on to say, quote “While difficult to handle, BSI is expending every effort to ensure total environmental, health and safety compliance…â€￾  As this point BSI cannot say how many tonnes of molasses were damaged and what is the full value of the loss.