Tests Show Most Store Honey Isn’t Honey

[Boris]

I've found this article just recently, and many facts surprised me.

For example:
"•76 percent of samples bought at groceries had all the pollen removed, These were stores like TOP Food, Safeway, Giant Eagle, QFC, Kroger, Metro Market, Harris Teeter, A&P, Stop & Shop and King Soopers.

•100 percent of the honey sampled from drugstores like Walgreens, Rite-Aid and CVS Pharmacy had no pollen.

•77 percent of the honey sampled from big box stores like Costco, Sam’s Club, Walmart, Target and H-E-B had the pollen filtered out.

•100 percent of the honey packaged in the small individual service portions from Smucker, McDonald’s and KFC had the pollen removed. "

From: http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2011/1.../#.UQ1sbh3m1n5


Boris Romanov

[Rader Sidetrack]

100 percent of the honey packaged in the small individual service portions from Smucker, McDonald’s and KFC had the pollen removed. "

Its difficult to give much credibility to someone who tests the pollen in the "honey" at KFC. Its labeled as 93% sauce, not honey. Even KFC claims its only 7% honey!

[EastSideBuzz]

Dont feed that to your bee's for sure. Well maybe it is ok since it is HFCS.

[Nature Coast beek]

This is why things like True Source Honey program exists...

http://www.truesourcehoney.com/true-source-certified/

[jmgi]

I may be mistaken, but I thought I read somewhere recently, maybe even on here, that if the pollen is completely removed from the honey, that technically its not honey anymore. Can HFCS be detected in honey, just wondering? John

[Coffee_Bee]

er, True Source Honey imports honey "loads", removes the pollen, repacks. AKA a "self regulating" industry redefining what honey should be: a processed product.

[libhart]

The point of True Source (I think) is that we know packers are going to remove the pollen because pollen causes granulation and stores hate granulation. The longer the honey sits on a shelf in a store, the less pollen can be in it if it's ever going to sell before it granulates. Think about how much honey actually gets sold from a pharmacy, not much. That honey must sit there a long time. I have a hard time blaming any packer for removing the pollen. So True Source tests the honey, actually they have an outside independent company test the honey, prior to being put in the barrel at the source location to ensure that the honey really is honey from that location. They also have people from that outside company visit the beekeepers to ensure that the beekeepers actually have the size of operation necessary to provide the honey they claim to provide....no more 2 hive beekeeper magically producing 10 ton. So when a consumer buys True Source, they may not know from where on the globe it came, but they know it's honey.

[jim lyon]

The will to do what Dean? Educate over 300 million people about honey granulation with a budget that would be petty cash to McDonalds or InBev? Those packers that care about purity started TrueSource. It was started by packers committed to integrity who were tired of being underbid by the purveyors of rice syrup honey blends yet I even hear them getting bashed for selling honey that's not "real" simply because they are giving the consumer what they demand. I wish it was a simple task to educate a whole nation but it just isn't.

[deknow]

Well, if beekeepers and the whole beekeeping industry isn't willing to do it, it will never happen.

OTOH, beekeepers are willing to "educate" the nation that "local honey is good for your allergies" (apparently spring honey from area X helps with fall allergies in area X even though there is no common pollen content between the seasons....but honey from area Y is ineffective). If that kind of energy were spent (and note, this is not something that a lot of money gets spent promoting) regarding honey crystallization, a noticeable effect would be achieved.

deknow

[jim lyon]

I will do my part, you no doubt will do yours but the ignorance out there about honey is overwhelming. I can't even count how many times through the years I have had people tell me about the jar of honey they bought that spoiled even though it was kept in the refrigerator. But this is a nation where disclaimers are put on Viagra ads warning that their product doesn't protect against std's. good luck with a nationwide honey granulation lecture.

[Coffee_Bee]

Goal or bottom line:...Selling imported honey in the United States of America and making profit.

Changing the definition of honey, redefining processing techniques, PR for the consumer to accept honey that looks and tastes like corn syrup, is all for that goal.

For the pitiful domestic beekeeper producer who does not add diatomaceous earth to their honey in preparation for removal of nasties like pollen, you are just bottling some quaint, uncouth product. Perhaps you will have to warn consumers that it contains allergic material.

If the Honey Board were really interested in representing the domestic producer, they would educate the consumer about "real" honey, not how they should accept processed, imported honey.

[Rader Sidetrack]

With regard to consumer education about honey, the California Milk Board alone spends $25-30 million dollars a year on milk advertising. Wisconsin spends a similar amount. Add in other diary states, and the Feds, and you have spending well over $100 million dollars a year on milk "education".

It will take many buckets (perhaps even totes) of money to re-educate the average consumer to prefer granulated honey.

(I'd post sources for my numbers, but consolidated figures are hard to come by. But Google "milk advertising budget" if you want.)

[deknow]

Using an advertising model to perform education is not efficient. How much is spent in large advertising campaigns wrt local honey and allergies? How much was spent by the industry to bring the level of "CCD awareness" that we have today?

Generally, if something like the California milk board spends $25 million in advertising, it is mostly because they have a budget of 25million, not a demonstrated need for $25 million in advertising.

deknow

[deknow]

Jim...are you saying that your crystallized honey is moldy?

Seriously though, I agree with Jim...focusing on quality (and purity) rather than country of origin is much more important.

deknow

[jim lyon]

I am a bit "out of the mold" on the whole issue of imports. The US consumes around 400 million pounds each year, possibly even more. We produce around 150 million lbs. There are good people all over the world raising honey most of them small family owned businesses that includes many members here on Beesource. There are also greedy, dishonest folks trying to make some easy money importing a lot of stuff that isn't honey by any definition but is sold as such. I am in favor of importing legitimate honey as long as it passes testing protocols as being safe. Imports are not the problem it's the whole issue of honey authenticity.

[jim lyon]

Yikes are we reaching a consensus? I'm not sure about the 200+ degree heating Brooks. I haven't heard of anything quite that harsh correct me if I'm wrong on that.

[Ian]

I know of a common practice called a "flash treatment" where as the honey is heated in an extremely controlled fashion to kill off any yeast or bacterial in the honey. And when I say controlled, its done by the book, to the second of exposure. Much the same way milk is pasteurized, to kill off the botulism.,

The way packers handle millions of pounds of honey, right from the beekeeper to the retail shelf is extremely interesting. It has it problems as does other food products but the ability for us to market that much honey to the entire consumer spectrum at such high standards is quite amazing

[brooksbeefarm]

I was wronge on the 200+ temp. i looked it up,160F + 72 c is more common, from what i've read and heard anything over 120F or 72 c the food value in honey starts to diminish. It's supposed to kill bacteria and stop crystallization at this temp.?

[Ian]

I dont know about the retardation of granulation, filtering pollen out helps with that.
It does kill all bacteria with a flash heat treatment though, much the same as they do with milk
They are mostly targeting Botulism

[deknow]

I dont know about the retardation of granulation, filtering pollen out helps with that.
It does kill all bacteria with a flash heat treatment though, much the same as they do with milk
They are mostly targeting Botulism

Err...it takes 250F for a few minutes to kill botulism spores. I'm not sure there is any honey that is heated to that temp. There are other bacteria, yeasts, fungi, etc that are sometimes in honey, and honey is often pasteurized in order to kill any of these live organisms (some people with dietary restrictions can't eat honey that hasn't been pasteurized).

deknow