CHALMETTE, La. — Domino Sugar Refinery in St. Bernard Parish opened its doors in 1909.
It is the second largest sugar refinery in the world. More than 7.5 million pounds of sugar is produced a day at the refinery.
The raw sugar is brought through locally, then brought to Domino by truck, train, or barges. It’s then taken to the raw sugar shed.
Inside the sugar shed seems like a mountain of dirt, but it’s actually sugar mounds. You can’t eat that sugar just yet, because it’s filled with bacteria and other dangerous sediments that aren’t edible.
They store the sugar there until it goes to the washer house. Once they liquify it they have to take all of the impurities out, and you won’t actually see the sugar again until it reaches the packing stages.
In the packing stages, they’ll produce about 1,700 pallets of finished goods and all of that has to leave in a day or else the refinery will quickly run out of space.