“Beeware of Honey Fraud” by Hannah R.

Honey is often called liquid gold, and for good reasons. It is rich in antioxidants, lowers blood pressure, improves cholesterol, and soothes a sore throat. Local honey has trace amounts of pollen in it. Regular consumption of the pollen helps the body better protect itself against seasonal allergies. It’s obvious why anyone would want to eat honey, especially in a time of increasing health consciousness. In fact, in the U.S. honey consumption is on the rise “...with an average of nearly one pound (0.9 pound) of honey being consumed per person compared to 0.5 pounds consumed per person in 1990.” With more honey being eaten, there’s a greater demand for the product. The way it’s being met is often with greed, false advertisement, and little regulation. Because of this Americans are being sold not pure, but diluted honey. This leaves American consumers as a victim yet again to injustices of the food industry. A large problem is that honey importers take advantage of the ultra-filtration process. This process removes all traces of pollen, which is like a fingerprint identifying where honey is from. Without it, origin of honey is undetectable. Chinese honey imports are often banned because they contain copious amounts of fructose corn syrup (sometimes containing illegal antibiotics) into their supply. However, ultra-filtration is like a loophole for dumping Chinese honey onto American markets. The Chinese trans-ship their honey to various countries where new pollen is added and labelled as a product of that country. It’s then shipped to the United States with a new fingerprint and contaminated quality. Many U.S. stores then carry this honey without pollen, so we can’t be sure where our food is coming from.

A list of different brands of honey tested by FSN that do NOT contain pollen.

As if that was not bad enough, “regulators” like the FDA choose to have no set “standard of identity” for honey, so there are no actual legal standards for honey, which will basically allow this practice to continue if no changes are made. And, as reported by Forbes, “‘Honey does not require official inspection in order to carry official USDA grade marks and . . . there are no existing programs that require the official inspection and certification of honey.’” This means that producers can easily lie about the quality of honey along with its whereabouts and get away with it. A change in the honey industry need to take place. A definition of REAL honey needs to be defined by the USDA and FDA. These organizations are supposedly dedicated to enforcing quality for Americans, but honey standards are either non-existant or very sketchy. When a true definition of honey is set, we need more testing and regulating of all honey before it can be sold or graded. It will be difficult to stop trans-shipment of honey, namely by the Chinese. But promoting natural honey and denouncing ultra-filtration will help put this problem to a stop. I think the most important thing the average person can do when faced with a dilemma like this is to buy organic, locally produced honey. It has the benefits that corporations can’t give their consumers: resistance to seasonal allergies, support for the local economy, and pure food.

Pure honey being sold at a farmers market.

Works Cited

Dadant.com. “Sweet News for Honey as Consumption Rising in United States.” Dadant.com, www.dadant.com/sweet-news-for-honey-as-consumption-rising-in-united-states/.

Olmsted, Larry. “Exclusive Book Excerpt: Honey Is World's Third Most Faked Food.”Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 30 Aug. 2016, www.forbes.com/sites/larryolmsted/2016/07/15/exclusive-book-excerpt honey-is-worlds-third-most-faked-food/#6a3d3a634f09.

Food Safety News. “Tests Show Most Store Honey Isn't Honey.” Food Safety News, 13 Mar.

2013, www.foodsafetynews.com/2011/11/tests-show-most-store-honey-isnt-

honey/#.Wpi8tminHrc.