I came across this article, and felt the need to share it. We use a lot of honey in our recipes, so it’s important to know what’s in it. We wondered what the difference between organic and regular honey was.. and really I guess it boils down to large company product versus small community product. Somehow corporations are always held less accountable for their less than ethical practices, and only care about profit. This always leads to cutting corners and not caring about the consumer.
Please support your local farmer and buy local honey! It also helps fight local allergens!
The following text is quoted from www.foodsafetynews.com
“Asian Honey, Banned in Europe, Is Flooding U.S. Grocery Shelves
FDA has the laws needed to keep adulterated honey off store shelves but does little, honey industry says.
by Andrew Schneider | Aug 15, 2011
A third or more of all the honey consumed in the U.S. is likely to have been smuggled in from China and may be tainted with illegal antibiotics and heavy metals. A Food Safety News investigation has documented that millions of pounds of honey banned as unsafe in dozens of countries are being imported and sold here in record quantities.
And the flow of Chinese honey continues despite assurances from the Food and Drug Administration and other federal officials that the hundreds of millions of pounds reaching store shelves were authentic and safe following the widespread arrests and convictions of major smugglers over the last two years.
Experts interviewed by Food Safety News say some of the largest and most long-established U.S. honey packers are knowingly buying mislabeled, transshipped or possibly altered honey so they can sell it cheaper than those companies who demand safety, quality and rigorously inspected honey.
“It’s no secret that the honey smuggling is being driven by money, the desire to save a couple of pennies a pound,” said Richard Adee, who is the Washington Legislative Chairman of the American Honey Producers Association.
“These big packers are still using imported honey of uncertain safety that they know is illegal because they know their chances of getting caught are slim,” Adee said.
Food safety investigators from the European Union barred all shipments of honey from India because of the presence of lead and illegal animal antibiotics. Further, they found an even larger amount of honey apparently had been concocted without the help of bees, made from artificial sweeteners and then extensively filtered to remove any proof of contaminants or adulteration or indications of precisely where the honey actually originated.
An examination of international and government shipping tallies, customs documents and interviews with some of North America’s top honey importers and brokers documented the rampant honey laundering and that a record amount of the Chinese honey was being purchased by major U.S. packers.”
The full article is here: http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2011/08/honey-laundering/