This country’s major importers of honey are taking a stand against illegal, often tainted product — a big change from their usual keep-it-quiet approach to this industry problem.
Andrew Schneider’s AOL News article on the subject reports that honey importers here are determined to get consumers involved.
“For more than three years, federal investigators have had hit-or-miss successes trying to intercept box-car-sized loads of illegally labeled honey coming into ports on both coasts and along the Gulf of Mexico,” he writes.
Stopping the imports is difficult because much of it is intentionally mislabeled to obscure its origins and avoid stiff tariffs. This bogus honey, especially that from China, is often contaminated with illegal animal antibiotics.
Schneider quotes industry leader Jill Clark, vice president of Dutch Gold Honey of Lancaster, Pa.
“We estimate that millions of pounds of Chinese honey continue to enter the U.S. from countries that do not have commercial honey businesses,” says Clark.”For example, countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand, the Philippines and Mongolia raise few bees and have no history of producing honey in commercial quantities…”
Schneider reports that a new site has been launched in order to alert consumers, retailers, food processors and others about the threat of inferior or dangerous honey. HonestHoney.com, is backed by Dutch Gold, Golden Heritage Foods of Hillsboro, Kan., Burleson’s Inc. from Waxahachie, Texas, and Odem International from Rosemere, Quebec, one of North America’s largest honey suppliers.
If you’re imagining a bounty on that little plastic bear in your cupboard, keep in mind most of the honey coming into the U.S. arrives in huge tankers or containers and goes straight into cereals, breads, cookies, yogurts, candies and other goods.
Even worse, Schneider reports, “investigators say that some food processors are prime — and often willing — targets for brokers trying to offload lower-cost, bogus honey.”
“Those behind the new initiative say the illegal honey sales have cost the U.S. up to $200 million in uncollected import duties in the past two years and threaten the domestic honey business and the future of America’s beekeeper,” writes Schneider.
–Kimberly Marlowe Hartnett
