Blended Honey

[sqkcrk]

Can you imagine retailing honey bears for .59 each? A friend of mine had a honeybear that he bought for 59 cents. It has a label w/ a bumblebee like illustration on it and it's called Honey Blend. The ingredient list is High fructose corn syrup, rice syrup and honey. In that order. So that tells you how much honey is in this product. The honey is from China and this product is packaged in Washington State.

It tastes awful and not at all like honey.

Is there no requirement of 51% honey in any product labeled Honey Blend? I've heard that all beef hamburgers have to have at least 51% hamburger in them to qualify as all beef. Shouldn't anything labeled Honey have a similar requirement? Or is this too much to expect?

[ScadsOBees]

Ahh, but this is not Honey, as in Beef hamburgers, it is Honey Blend. As in beef blend hamburgers.

I'm sure that the Honey is in big bold letters, and the blend is small insignificant.

The honeybears that I buy cost $.30, that isn't much profit margin there. More dumping.

[Apuuli]

Fortunately it's easier in America to find honey than "honey blends". I was in South Africa this summer and "honey blends" were much more common in some stores than real honey and they were difficult to tell apart unless you happened to be a curious/paranoid shopper.

At the very least, fake honey isn't as common as margarine and fake maple syrup are. I know people who think real butter and real maple syrup taste weird because they grew up on the substitutes!

[wfarler]

This should be illegal. But unfortunately, the FDA has been leaned on too many times by politicians (legislative and executive, demo and repub, all guilty) who have sold themselves to food companies engaged in deceptive practices.

But dont' ask me how I feel about politicians (polite word 'politician' substituted for actual description which is unprintable).

'Honey blend' when translated into english means 'a blend of honeys' not 'a blend of garbage with some honey flavoring' or 'blend of sweeteners including a 1 cents worth of honey' or 'flour, salt, artificial color, artificial seasoning, waving a honey stick over the package'. When you find this in the store scoop it up off the shelf and march it up to the manager or customer service and ask them to remove it from the shelves. It they don't agree at least they know it's wrong. If they keep stocking it scoop it up and move it to the pet food isle. The pet people will really get mad at them for false labeling.

Should I be posting this reply in the tailgater forum? Seriously, I hate it when I pick up a box of cereal labeled honey oats and honey is listed after salt or coloring (they are in order by most to least).

I'd suggest writing your congressman about truth in labeling or country of origin labeling but they will just put you on their mailing list and send you newsletters telling you about illegal immigration but forget to mention our sons are dying in the war (do they think we are fools? or do they simply not support our troops when they ignore the fact we are at war?)

[Panhandle Bee man]

First step is to get a legal definition of Honey. The FDA/USDA do not have one.

[Cyndi]

geez, nothing is sacred anymore, :(

[Ross]

That is illegal in Texas.


SUBCHAPTER E. LABELING AND SALE OF HONEY
Sec. 131.081. USE OF "HONEY" ON LABEL. A person may not label, sell, or keep, offer, or expose for sale a product identified on its label as "honey," "liquid or extracted honey," "strained honey," or "pure honey" unless the product consists exclusively of pure honey.
Added by Acts 1983, 68th Leg., p. 1884, ch. 350, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1983.
Sec. 131.082. USE OF BEE, HIVE, OR COMB DESIGN. A person may not label, sell, or keep, expose, or offer for sale a product that resembles honey and that has on its label a picture or drawing of a bee, hive, or comb unless the product consists exclusively of pure honey.
Added by Acts 1983, 68th Leg., p. 1884, ch. 350, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1983.
Sec. 131.083. SALE OF IMITATION HONEY. A person may not label, sell, or keep, expose, or offer for sale a product that resembles honey and is identified on its label as "imitation honey."
Added by Acts 1983, 68th Leg., p. 1884, ch. 350, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1983.
Sec. 131.084. SALE OF HONEY MIXTURES. (a) A person may not label, sell, or keep, expose, or offer for sale a product that consists of honey mixed with another ingredient unless:
(1) the product bears a label with a list of ingredients; and
(2) "honey" appears in the list of ingredients in the same size type of print as the other ingredients.
(b) A person may not label, sell, or keep, expose, or offer for sale a product that contains honey mixed with another ingredient and contains in the product name "honey" in a larger size of type or print or in a more prominent position than the other words in the product name.
Added by Acts 1983, 68th Leg., p. 1884, ch. 350, Sec. 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1983.