# Know Where Your Honey Comes From



## UncleJoe (Jan 11, 2009)

*Honey laundering: The sour side of nature's golden sweetener *

As crime sagas go, a scheme rigged by a sophisticated cartel of global traders has all the right blockbuster elements: clandestine movements of illegal substances through a network of co-operatives in Asia, a German conglomerate, jet-setting executives, doctored laboratory reports, high-profile takedowns and fearful turncoats.

Honey has become a staple in the North American diet. Those that do not consume it straight from bear-shaped squeeze bottles eat it regularly whether they know it or not - honey is baked into everything from breakfast cereals to cookies and mixed into sauces and cough drops. Produced by bees from the nectar of flowers and then strained for clarity, honey's all-natural origin has garnered lofty status among health-conscious consumers who prefer products without refined sweeteners (think white sugar and processed corn syrup). About 1.2 million metric tons of honey is produced worldwide each year.

What consumers don't know is that honey doesn't usually come straight - or pure - from the hive. Giant steel drums of honey bound for grocery store shelves and the food processors that crank out your cereal are in constant flow through the global market. Most honey comes from China, where beekeepers are notorious for keeping their bees healthy with antibiotics banned in North America because they seep into honey and contaminate it; packers there learn to mask the acrid notes of poor quality product by mixing in sugar or corn-based syrups to fake good taste.

None of this is on the label. Rarely will a jar of honey say "Made in China." Instead, Chinese honey sold in North America is more likely to be stamped as Indonesian, Malaysian or Taiwanese, due to a growing multimillion dollar laundering system designed to keep the endless supply of cheap and often contaminated Chinese honey moving into the U.S., where tariffs have been implemented to staunch the flow and protect its own struggling industry.

The rest of the article can be found here


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## Jason (Jul 25, 2009)

Good lord...thanks for the heads up. One good thing about this, at least around here, local grown honey may be a touch more expensive, but it's easy enough to come by. Many of the local chain grocery stores even carry local honey.


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## JayJay (Nov 23, 2010)

My sweetie just brought home a quart...Amish honey...great stuff...he tried another farmer near us last time and I gave it away to a neighbor..
He brings me their milk, jellies, jams, and breads also. Not a lot because of the cost, but the only milk he buys is the Amish.

Remember, honey's shelf life is indefinite...now to save my nickels and dimes for more of this stuff..:2thumb:


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## Emerald (Jun 14, 2010)

I only buy local honey from a place that is about 12 miles away, but I know that many of his hives are placed all around me and the closest ones were less than a mile down the road. The cost is far cheaper than anything in the local box store around here and it is wonderful.. I buy 1/2 gallon mason jar for $15 and since those mason jars alone are around $2.50(unless you luck out at the yard sale or thrift store) that make the honey only about $12.50 for 1/2 gallon of honey- local at that.
Other than that honey, I do go to Shipsawanna and buy some Amish buckwheat honey every so often and my mom, who vacations in Florida will swing by the big orange groves there and pick up a few bottles of orange blossom honey with the comb in it for me... says right on the jar that they only bottle and use their own honey from their grove.

Oh and lately the honey in the dollar stores is half and half with HFcorn syrup. And so is the little packets of honey from KFC.


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## The_Blob (Dec 24, 2008)

Emerald said:


> Oh and lately the honey in the dollar stores is half and half with HFcorn syrup. And so is the little packets of honey from KFC.


actually, it's even WORSE than that, if you look at some of the packaging it says *honey <3%* 

KFC can get away with this (in Ohio anyway) because they don't *sell* the syrup... 

http://www.bee-quick.com/wall/shame2.html


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## The_Blob (Dec 24, 2008)

This article has a good bit of information on why standards should be introduced for honey and a bit about labeling law. Basically, just because the label meets federal guidelines does not mean the product can be legally sold in a State.

http://www.americanhoneyproducers.org/standards/Nancy Gentry Speech 1-8-2009 Fresno.pdf

What brought my attention to the imitation honey on the shelf at walmart is simply this Ohio law:

3715.38 Prohibitions regarding honey.
No person shall sell, offer, or expose for sale any product that is:

(A) In the semblance of honey and labeled, advertised, or otherwise represented to be honey if it is not honey;

(B) In the semblance of honey and contains a label that applies the word "imitation" to the product, regardless of whether it contains any honey;

(C) In the semblance of honey and is a blend of honey and other ingredients that contains a label with the word "honey," or any picture, drawing, or other representation implying honey, when such word, picture, drawing, or representation is more prominently displayed than the word "blend" or other word clearly implying the existence of other ingredients.

Effective Date: 10-31-1975

Lawriter - ORC - 3715.38 Prohibitions regarding honey.

Even if this "imitation honey" or "honey syrup" passes FDA labeling laws, it still cannot be sold in the State of Ohio.

Why?

1. It is not honey, but label says "Honey" and each product is in either a honey bear or container with a bee on it. This suggests that it is Honey.

2. The word "Imitation" is on the label.

3. It is being marketed in the semblance to honey by the color of the syrup, type of container used, and pictures on the product.

Now the "honey syrup" contains 10% honey. If am understanding things correctly, this product is legal to sell only if it is not sold in the semblance of honey. Meaning, a different container is used and the color is changed to something other than honey colored.

The "imitation honey" could be sold if it drops the word "honey" from the label and looses the embossed bee on the container. It could just then be sold as "artificial sweetener great for diabetics" or something like that.

Ohio does have a definition of honey:
3715.01 Pure food and drug law definitions.

(12) "Honey" means the nectar and saccharine exudation of plants that has been gathered, modified, and stored in a honeycomb by honeybees.

Lawriter - ORC - 3715.01 Pure food and drug law definitions.


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## UncleJoe (Jan 11, 2009)

My honey comes from a farm about 5 miles from my sister's house. It comes as a big Blob in 5 gal. buckets and is already crystallized.


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## Herbalpagan (Dec 8, 2008)

I've started buying only local honey from vendors i know. We are also starting our own bee keeping efforts starting this spring. Ever since i learned that a lot of honey comes from China or is cut with corn syrup, I haven't bought any that I don't know where it comes from.


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## ComputerGuy (Dec 10, 2010)

WOW. Thanks. Never thought about honey in my preps. But will start collecting local stuff for our LTS


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## Emerald (Jun 14, 2010)

One great thing about honey that has crystallized--it is so much easier to measure for my baking! I know that some folks don't like it when it does that and then heat it to get it back to liquid form- but it doesn't hurt the honey and if you put a dollop of the crystallized honey on a warm biscuit it just spreads well and melts right in!


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## vn6869 (May 5, 2010)

Thanks, woulda never thunk.

I've been getting my honey from the local farmer's market, now I better start checking the labels too. 

Thanks again.


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## lotsoflead (Jul 25, 2010)

I keep bees myself, but on many store bought honey bottles, you'll see, repackaged in Virgina or some other state, it means that it probably came from China and was bottled here. Sams Club will sometimes have a few pallets of it.


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## Jason (Jul 25, 2009)

lotsoflead: How did you get started with the bees? Realistically, how often do you get stung? Every time you mess with them? How often _do_ you have to mess with them?


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## BizzyB (Dec 10, 2010)

I get my honey from a good friend who keeps them with his son. I get 2-ish pounds a year in exchange for some homemade wine and soap.


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## Frugal_Farmers (Dec 13, 2010)

We began raising bees this last spring. We started with new hives and they spent the short nectar flow period buiding their comb. Although we didn't produce honey this year we will be in a great position to get plenty this year.

Beekeeping is simple enough and has many rewards. Our garden really flourished this past year.

I would recommend anyone interested in beekeeping to find a local beekeeping association. Get a mentor and produce your own honey that way you know exactly what you are producing.

Bees are cool and so critical to our food supply.

If anyone needs assistance in finding a local beekeeping association, let me know and I'll see if I can track one down for ya.


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## lotsoflead (Jul 25, 2010)

Jason said:


> lotsoflead: How did you get started with the bees? Realistically, how often do you get stung? Every time you mess with them? How often _do_ you have to mess with them?


 my father an GD had bees on the farm and I just kept them going, I seldom get stung, maybe a couple times a yr but I alway use smoke and wear a veil when opening a hive, many people don't but i hate to get stung on an eye lid,ear or the lip.


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## Emerald (Jun 14, 2010)

I am totally jealous of bee keepers! I would love to have a hive in the back yard but me being allergic to bee stings would make it a kinda risky hobby! I am around bees all the time while I garden and have not been stung in years, I stepped on the poor thing, but purposely going into a situation where I might get stung makes me leery.
Hummm..... I wonder if I could get the hubby to do the harvesting for me?


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## AzDesertRatMarine (Jan 6, 2011)

*Thanks!*

Thanks for the heads-up! I would have never thought about it.

Side Note = I envision a guy in an overcoat saying "Psst... hey man, wanna' buy some REAL HONEY?"


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## ComputerGuy (Dec 10, 2010)

Going to have to look at this. Honey, helping the garden, etc


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## HozayBuck (Jan 27, 2010)

*I had heard someplace that honey from China was mixed with corn syrup and god knows what else...then I read the OP and decided to get off my butt and find a local source for honey, found a local beekeeper who sells raw honey for $115.00 for a 5 gal bucket this seems like a good price so I[ll be heading over to visit him soon.. I'm not sure I want to try beekeeping at this point..maybe down the road.. if there is much road left to be down...but 5 gals is a good prep start.. and it does store for ever... as I recall reading they found honey in King Tut's tomb and it was just fine... go figger.. I goggled local beekeepers for this area and found a lot of them.... *


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## backlash (Nov 11, 2008)

After reading this thread I started looking for a local source for honey.
Found a guy about 2 miles away that is trying to get a honey business started.
He said to call him in September.
I put a reminder in my calendar to call.
Hopefully he will have some.
He is them only honey producer around.


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## UncleJoe (Jan 11, 2009)

HozayBuck said:


> *raw honey for $115.00 for a 5 gal bucket this seems like a good price*


Yep. That's a good price. I got mine for $102 but every other place I checked, a 5 gal. bucket goes for $160-$200.


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## The_Blob (Dec 24, 2008)

we've fed sugar/syrup to bees, so I decided to look it up & found this informative little nugget:

Feeding Bees Sugar Syrup


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## Clarice (Aug 19, 2010)

Thank goodness we have our own bees. Please everyone buy your honey from local producers, it may cost a little more, but what is the cost of your health. By using honey produced in your area you are helping your community and yourself as honey produced in your area is better for your allergies.


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## Riverdale (Oct 31, 2009)

UncleJoe said:


> My honey comes from a farm about 5 miles from my sister's house. It comes as a big Blob in 5 gal. buckets and is already crystallized.


I buy mine from local people, too!

In a year or two (when the fruit trees are in) we might have a hive or two here


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## Riverdale (Oct 31, 2009)

UncleJoe said:


> Yep. That's a good price. I got mine for $102 but every other place I checked, a 5 gal. bucket goes for $160-$200.


Got my last 2 5gal pails for $75 each. Buit then again I did some AL welding for the guy and did not charge him. It worked out


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## Jason (Jul 25, 2009)

For those of you buying honey in 5 gallon pails: how do you get it out without messing up the honey in the bucket? Just use a clean ladle or something similar? Or can you get pour spouts? I know if it crystallizes you can fix that easily enough but I just wonder about cracking the lid on the bucket every time you have to fill up your small tabletop honey pot.


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## kolob (Jan 14, 2011)

Patience,calmness of spirit,and self control were qualities that beekeepers learn when keeping bees. I read this in a bee book years ago when I became interested in keeping bees. I knew that those were qualities I needed to grow so I got into bees. When I started I struggled to get a dollar a pound for our honey. Now I can't supply the demand but can't charge what others do as I would rather see people use and benefit from using honey than get priced out of using it. Crystalization is a sure sign of an unadulterated product. Never microwave honey to get it back to liquid form. So much better to heat very slowly in a double boiler type setup to avoid high heat and killing the enzymes in the honey.


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## UncleJoe (Jan 11, 2009)

When I got my pail last fall, I scooped it out with a ladle and using a canning funnel I let it slowly pour into 2- 1/2 gal mason jars then closed the pail. I keep the jars close enough to the wood furnace to keep them liquid but not hot. I pour from the jars into one of those "honey bear" things. When the jars are empty, I'll do it over again.


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## JayJay (Nov 23, 2010)

Clarice said:


> Thank goodness we have our own bees. Please everyone buy your honey from local producers, it may cost a little more, but what is the cost of your health. By using honey produced in your area you are helping your community and yourself as honey produced in your area is better for your allergies.


I read if your honey isn't produced within a 50 mile radius, it's not helping any allergies you may have.


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## UncleJoe (Jan 11, 2009)

Importer arrested in honey scheme - chicagotribune.com

The business agent for several honey importers has been arrested on federal charges lodged in Chicago, alleging she conspired to illegally import Chinese honey, prosecutors said today.

Shu Bei "Kathy" Yuan, a Chinese national, was arrested Tuesday in Los Angeles and appeared in federal court in Los Angeles late Wednesday, prosecutors said in a news release.

Prosecutors allege that Yuan claimed the honey came from South Korea, Thailand and Taiwan rather than China to avoid paying higher import taxes.

Yuan's indictment on charges of evading about $500,000 in import taxes on about $200,000 worth of honey is part of a larger probe into German-based Alfred L. Wolff, Inc., and related companies that began to result in indictments in 2009. A federal grand jury indicted 10 Wolff executives and five companies in an $80 million honey-import fraud scheme. So far, 20 people and companies have been charged in honey-related investigations, according to the release.

Yuan worked for Blue Action Enterprise, Inc., a California honey importer, and related companies, including the now-defunct 7 Tiger Enterprises, Inc., and Honey World Enterprises, Inc.

She worked with a man named Hung Ta "Michael" Fan, who owned the three companies, to bring the honey into the Unites States between March 2005 and June 2006. Fan pleaded guilty last year to conspiring to import Chinese honey illegally to skirt about $5 million in import duties. He was sentenced to 30 months in prison.

Yuan is alleged to have falsely declared that six shipments of Chinese honey came from South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand. Honey from those countries was not subject to "anti-dumping" duties at the time of the scheme, prosecutors said.

"The stability of our domestic honey industry is potentially threatened when importers illegally dump low-cost Chinese honey into the U.S. marketplace," Gary Hartwig, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement special-agent-in-charge in Chicago, said in the release.

If convicted, Yuan could face up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for the most serious charge against her.


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## SunflowerGirl (Feb 14, 2011)

It's just depressing really. You try to buy the right foods and then you find out that you can't trust the labels or the store.

This is just like the fake rice made in China from pototatoes and plastic that was in the news this week.

I mean, now you can't trust honey and rice?


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## The_Blob (Dec 24, 2008)

SueBee Honey is supposed to be a reliable, high quality, *American* product... and it's only $10 for 5lbs @ Sam's Club


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## mickbear (Apr 9, 2009)

i'v been keeping bee's for a few years now and its realy fun.i didn't get into it untill i was in my late 40's.the rewards are worth what few times i have been stung.between the bee's,chickens,garden,fishing iv got a jump on the folks that dont prep.i'll be glad to help anybody that wants to get into beekeeping any way i can.


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## Jason (Jul 25, 2009)

We just got a 40 oz bottle of honey the other day at a local grocery store. It's locally produced (the lable says it's made in Donora, which is 9 miles from me). The guy makes both clover and wildflower in all kinds of sizes, with the 40 oz seeming to be the biggest.I have no preference between the two varieties but DW prefers wildflower so that's what we generally get.

When we camp up near Pam'sPride's neck of the woods we sometimes get honey made by Vorisek's backyard bee farms that's really good too.


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## AzDesertRatMarine (Jan 6, 2011)

*Found One*

After reading UNCLEJOE's original post, I had been keeping an eye out for this at the markets. The first time I spotted it was at (drum roll, please) WAL-MART.

It was an Off Brand, and the main ingredient was Corn Syrup.

Pays to read the back of the container....


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## semperscott (Nov 7, 2010)

I have been planning on getting some honey to store, now I know I will be using only local bee keepers. Thanks!


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## Kimba (Feb 13, 2011)

Jason- you can buy a "honey gate" from one of the bee supply houses. Just drill a hole in the side of the bucket, close to the bottom, and install the gate.
To fill smaller containers you just open the gate and the honey will flow right out. The gate is designed to cut off the honey cleanly so it doesn't make a mess.

For lids we use gamma lids as they are easier to get on and off than the lids that come with the buckets.

If the honey granulates before you use it up you can just scoop it out.

Kimba


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