avoiding soapy or odd sugar taste with 2 lb paper store pack?

[Ace Crysler]

Ever since the pandemic and my dwindling funds as a result, I began buying sugar in the standard 2 lb paper packages. Before, when funds weren't an issue, I'd buy Dominos which comes sealed in a plastic coffee like container. Never had a problem with those, but they cost 3-4x more than the paper packages. My problem sometimes occurs with the paper packaged sugar: it will have a strange taste. Most often, it will taste like soap. My guess it that the sugar, not being truly sealed, absorbs the odor of anything in the vicinity or simply that someone sprayed it with soapy water at some point. Other than shelling out for a sealed variety, any tips for avoiding sugar's bad taste when packaged this way?

[Cindy Hamilton]

Is the paper-packaged sugar cane or beet sugar? Is it Domino or some other brand? Where do you buy your groceries?

I've been buying paper-packaged sugar for 50 years and never had a problem with off flavors.

[Peter]

Me neither, also for at least 50 years. Perhaps the OP has dysosmia secondary to a COVID-19 infection? Has the OP had anyone else sample the same bag of sugar and if so, did that person agree or not that the sugar tasted off? Does the OP notice that any other foods taste or smell peculiar?

According to a page on the Cleveland Clinic web site, the differential diagnosis of dsyosmia includes:

Brain injury or brain tumor. Hay fever (allergic rhinitis). Nasal polyps. Neurological conditions, such as Parkinson’s disease. Radiation therapy and chemotherapy. Sinus infection (sinusitis). Smoking. Some medications that lower cholesterol (Lipitor®) and high blood Pressure (Norvasc®). Viruses, including the common cold and COVID-19.

[Thomas]

Chuck it. Everybody else covered it.

[Ace Crysler]

This:

[Ace Crysler]

I don't have any of these. In fact, I am one of the few family members who still practices strict Covid protocols. No, I'm 99% certain that this bag had been exposed or in the presence of something.

[Cindy Hamilton]

Ok, Walmart doesn't seem to think it matters whether it's cane or beet sugar. Some people discern off flavors in beet sugar, for what it's worth.

A quick Google of "does white sugar absorb odors" yields this page:

Perhaps your sugar does occasionally pick up odors.

[rbowman]

The hummingbirds haven't complained.

[invalid unparseable]

I am strongly suspecting that the sugar was contaminated before packaging.