Maple Sugar, Part 2: Can AI (and retailers) get SDS right?

TL;DR

• Consumer sale: Foods like maple sugar are exempt from OSHA HazCom—so no SDS is required when sold to everyday shoppers.
• Workplace & bulk handling: When dust is involved, it can be a combustible hazard. In those settings, SDSs are expected.
• Online reality: Consumer retailers rarely show an SDS. Food-service suppliers and manufacturers often do.

The Twist We Missed

After our first maple sugar article, one of our in-house regulations experts, Xander, pointed out something we’d skimmed over: the OSHA food exemption isn’t the whole story.

Here’s how he framed it:

• Some product categories—like food—are indeed exempt from SDS requirements under HazCom.
• But exemptions don’t cover everything. The moment a workplace activity triggers a hazard (say, dust from bulk maple sugar), the covered activity takes priority.
• That’s why you see such a stark split: consumer shelves show nutrition facts, while food-service buyers and manufacturers get full SDS PDFs.

In other words, the industry segment dictates whether you’ll see an SDS

Quick Rule of Thumb

• Is it food sold to consumers? → No SDS needed.
• Is it being processed or handled in bulk where dust forms? → SDS expected. Combustible dust hazard should be communicated.

Live Retailer Spot-Check

Takeaway

For shoppers, maple sugar is just food—no SDS required. For workplaces, it’s a dust hazard—SDS expected. The line isn’t the chemical itself, but the context it’s sold and handled in.

This is exactly where AI can stumble. Left unchecked, AI loves blanket rules: “food = no SDS.” But maple sugar is the perfect trap. Good compliance means knowing the context.

Why This Matters for Smarter Sorting

At Smarter Sorting, we don’t stop at blanket rules. We combine regulatory expertise (like Xander’s insights) with machine learning to train our models to separate food on the shelf from dust in the warehouse.

That means retailers, brands, and suppliers using our platform can:

• Post the right docs in the right channels.
• Avoid over- or under-communicating hazards.
• Keep compliance tight without wasting resources.

Because whether it’s maple sugar, lithium batteries, or shampoo, the difference between “safe on the shelf” and “hazard in the workplace” is often context—and that’s what our models get right.

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