Tests Show Most Store Honey Isn’t Honey

BeeMaid honey is in Canadian Starbucks. No second rate foreign import put in that coffee !

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Originally Posted by sqkcrk

... No body mentioned pollen. Anecdotal as that is and as are all of my experiences selling honey I think what I experience has some weight, being as I sell tons of honey. And some here in this discussin sell none. Some of y'all don't even seem to buy any.

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yes, because, many of "us" are on customer side. Apparently, many wanted to know what they are buying? It is very simple and your arguments are foolish.

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Originally Posted by sqkcrk

...Ultrafiltration of honey by the Major Packers has been denied. Dutch Gold, aka Gamber Honey Company, and Souix Bee say they don't have Ultrafiltration Equipment. Maybe it's a matter of symantics, but words and their definitions do matter. imo

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Mark,

In fact I don't know even one company that you mentioned.
So, show us please the real companies, that “…don't have Ultrafiltration Equipment.”

Nevertheless, I know these companies:

Dutch Gold Honey
http://www.dutchgoldhoney.com/
You can see the video from my post #117 also.

Sue Bee Honey, Sioux Honey Association
http://www.suebee.com/

Gamber Container, Inc.
http://www.gambercontainer.com/

Some info about Sioux Honey Association:

“Huser said the Sioux Honey Association and other producers shun ultra-filtration in favor of a more traditional, much less aggressive technique, called macro filtration, to remove bee parts, wax and other debris from the hive...

"When we do that, we incidentally remove most (!!!) of the pollen," he said.”…

According to the Food Safety News story, Sue Bee Honey "declined repeated requests for comments on ultra-filtration, what Sue Bee does with its foreign honey and whether it's ultra-filtered when they buy it."
http://siouxcityjournal.com/business...754760d83.html

Now, probably after some criticisms, instead of this statement: "When we do that, we incidentally remove most (!!!) of the pollen,"
new statement is posted here: http://www.suebee.com/?q=node/32 - "...which incidentally removes SOME of the pollen,"


Boris Romanov

For the past 5 yrs. i don't know how many customers at the farmers market tell me that their doctor said they couldn't do anything more for there allergies and that they could try local honey,that some people say it helps them? Well, i have people tell me after eating my raw honey, it's the only thing that has helped them or there children and as long as they can find it they will never buy anything else. So if it's mental or physical who is to say?If the person feels better or feels cured, that's a good thing.:thumbsup:By the way, doctors will tell you that all allergies are not caused by things in the air:rolleyes: The Honey Vs Allergy is becoming like the Global warming fight,we can see it happening.

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Originally Posted by Boris

Mark,

Even in the best-case scenario the Packers that you mentioned are less than 25% from the total amount of tested honey.

In addition, the video posted here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDtClXCM1_I
explains what kind of final product the Dutch Gold Honey provides to the market.
Therefore I do not want to call this forever liquid substance as HONEY.

My wife, my children, my grandson and my friends prefer my raw organic honey, but not a sweet liquid substance from the Supermarkets.
What about your family choice/preferences?

Boris Romanov

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Okay Boris.

My amily gets all of the Squeak Creek Honey they want.

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Originally Posted by cerezha

yes, because, many of "us" are on customer side. Apparently, many wanted to know what they are buying? It is very simple and your arguments are foolish.

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Thanks for pointing that out my friend. I often wonder. I never was a member of the Debate Club when I was in school.

:) Wanna buy some honey? I'll ship it to you. :)

If you are selling honey, how does your price compare to the shelf price of those found on stores shelves? The one w/out pollen. Are you charging a premium for your honey? Or are you selling it for less so you can get rid of it? A statement I often hear.

With that reasoning (doctors recommending honey for allergy because some patients self report that it helps them), seems like we should be expecting professional financial advisers to recommend a trip to vegas, and buying scratch tickets as ways out of debt....or ways to finance an empire!

deknow

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Originally Posted by brooksbeefarm

For the past 5 yrs. i don't know how many customers at the farmers market tell me that their doctor said they couldn't do anything more for there allergies and that they could try local honey,that some people say it helps them? Well, i have people tell me after eating my raw honey, it's the only thing that has helped them or there children and as long as they can find it they will never buy anything else. So if it's mental or physical who is to say?If the person feels better or feels cured, that's a good thing.:thumbsup:By the way, doctors will tell you that all allergies are not caused by things in the air:rolleyes: The Honey Vs Allergy is becoming like the Global warming fight,we can see it happening.

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It's hard to argue with success:D

Allergists recommend, if that's the right word, the use of Local Raw Honey because they don't know any better either and it can't hurt. So, if the patient experiences relief, no none loses. People thing and believe all sorts of things which aren't true.

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yes, because, many of "us" are on customer side. Apparently, many wanted to know what they are buying? -cerezha

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O. K., I'll bite. I'm really curious about this, speaking as someone on the "selling" side, who is interested to know a bit more to maybe help marketing. How do you, as the customer, tell how much pollen if any is present in honey when you're out shopping for it?

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Originally Posted by Kieck

How do you, as the customer, tell how much pollen if any is present in honey when you're out shopping for it?

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Well, for that matter, one can build on the same line of questioning...how do you as a customer, tell that the honey you buy is even honey? Or fake honey? By who's definition?
If you buy directly from the beekeeper, his word is the only thing you can go by...If you buy from a store, any store...you can take the clerk's word, or go by what's on the label, or go to whatever/whomever you think or accept as authority... What else you've got?

Interesting read guys, I sell a little honey locally and quite frankly it is the best honey that I have tasted in years (the only honey I have tasted in years) and my customers all agree with me on that score. Taste matters with raw honey.
Some of you would like to get the FDA involved with setting standards, I feel that with our foundering free market system GOVT involvment would soon side with big honey and all the small producers would be forced out of the market place, some legislation in VA at one point was targeting small producers so be careful in what you wish for.
About bees not gathering wind blown pollen, I personally have seen bees gathering ragweed pollen so who really knows where the bees do all there shopping.
Johno

The news media is making food shoppers more aware of what they are buying and feeding there family, with the Govt. allowing food (honey is one) in from China and other country's shoppers start reading the labels. With the problems over the years with China products for one, people shy away from food products from China, i know i do.Once they see (not all the customers) honey labeled from China and other countries on the shelf where they shop they start looking for local honey and other home grown food at Farmers Markets, Health food stores, ect,I sell produce and honey at the Farmers Market and hear customers say they hate to see winter coming because they have to buy that crap out of the stores.When people become aware of how honey is processed to put it on the retail shelves, it gathers dust until the local beekeepers run out, around here anyway.They know what ever the bees put in my honey is still in it (raw uncooked, strained once honey) pollen and all, some come and watch me process it. Once they taste real honey they won't go back.

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Originally Posted by deknow

This is something I recently sent to one of our retail accounts regarding honey and allergies:

The idea that "local" honey helps with allergies has never been demonstrated in any kind of controlled study. There is no anecdotal evidecne that I'm aware of that compares "local" honey with raw, unfiltered honey that isn't local. Local milk will provide you with calcium...that is a true statement...but does it provide more/better calcium than non-local milk?

The idea that pollen content of honey changes every 50 miles (or doesn't change within within 50 miles) is not true. The idea that honey from a specific area harvested in the spring or summer contains the pollen that people are allergic to in the fall is not true. The idea that the pollen that people are allergic to is in the honey is overstated at best....there might be some ragweed pollen in the honey because the bees are negatively charged and attract pollen from the air, but the bees are not foraging on ragweed, it is wind pollinated, and therefore doesn't put energy into producing protein rich pollen or nectar to attract pollinators.

We are very careful about not assigning health benefits to honey when we are selling....it is illegal to so. It certainly isn't the retail stores' job to point all of this out to customers, but I would advise caution when dealing with customers in this matter....health claims need to be handled carefully.

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In the following thread is a photo of my bees collecting ragweed pollen. I think most people dont witness this because it is often cut down. I leave a large patch of ragweed for my bees and they will work it. People claim that my honey helps with allergies, I make NO claims that it will. But I can say that my honey has ragweed pollen in it.
http://www.beesource.com/forums/show...pollen+capital

Bees will collect corn dust from the chicken feed), sawdust, and even fungus spores in place of pollen.
I heard several people claim that they have never seen honeybees on queenannes lace...until this past year.

Great shot of a honeybee on ragweed in that thread....but as to how common it is (especially as there is often/usually goldenrod and aster or sometimes knotweed are available at the same time), I don't think very common for them to collect it in large quantities....but it would take a pollen trap and monitoring to know.

deknow

For those of you who's customers swear by your local honey from their allergies, how are the pollens that are in the air "now" present in the honey you sold someone 3 weeks ago?

deknow

That's the good thing about Raw honey, i don't have to brag it up or make false claims. It sells it self.:thumbsup:

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Well, for that matter, one can build on the same line of questioning...how do you as a customer, tell that the honey you buy is even honey? Or fake honey? By who's definition? -apis maximus

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Good point. I suspect some of us are too close to honey to be very objective about it. As a consumer, I buy maple syrup. If the label says it's real maple syrup, I assume it is. If I buy it and that brand tastes good to me, I'm likely to buy it again if it's available again. I don't analyze it for possible presence of other sugar syrups or tree saps, and I don't really know if it is really from maple trees.

I've just assumed most consumers who buy honey do about the same.

Kieck,That is what the problem to me is,when you buy a jar of honey at a retail store that says Pure Clover Honey, it should be pure clover honey.Just because the honey has a light color the producer of that honey should be made to back up that claim. I want what i pay for.