Is anyone concerned that the relative lack of standards in American honey may be a source of consumer disillusionment at some point? Could it end up hurting American producers if folks come to believe that there's no way they can know where their honey was produced, and under what management and processing procedures? -rhaldridge
Finally. Good questions, rhaldridge. Important questions, I think.
As far as a lack of standards, I believe the standards are in place. Just within the U. S., these standards have been set up the USDA:
http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/getf...STELDEV3011895
When was the last time you saw "U. S. Grade A Light Amber Honey" labeled and offered for sale as such? The failure, I think, is not on the part of the standards. The failure is on the marketing side to market honey clearly labeled to those standards. Nothing prevents honey packers from putting such labels on their products.
To take it a step further, if you chose to differentiate your honey in the marketplace by labeling it (just as an example): "U. S. Grade A Honey, Dark Amber, Extracted, Unfiltered, Unheated," I see no reason that you couldn't.
Of course, I doubt many packers would want to label their honey to the grade standards if their product is even U. S. Grade B. Similar grades are used for other products. How often do you see Grade B cheese in grocery stores? How often do you see Grade B eggs labeled as such? The immediate perception in the minds of buyers is "Grade A is better than Grade B."
As far as labeling for where honey is produced, I see a real marketing advantage in doing just that. "Locavore" movements are catching on. Any number of people seem to want food produced nearby, for various reasons. The point here, I think, is that labeling of this sort shouldn't have to be legislated.
I understand that in a number of other first-world countries, it is is illegal to sell honey which has had the pollen removed. -rhaldridge
The U. N. has standards for honey, found here (and, like the USDA standards, linked in posts earlier in this thread):
http://www.codexalimentarius.org/inp...0/cxs_012e.pdf.
How and where enforcement occurs, I'm not sure. But the standards are in place.
The problem that comes with deliberately removing pollen is that it removes the evidence of where that honey was produced. However, as has been pointed out already in this thread, pollen is really a contaminant in honey, both from pollen introduced environmentally in the hive and pollen introduced in to the honey through the extraction process. And some honeys may naturally have not pollen (i. e., honeydew honey).
In some instances, honey is ultra filtered to remove antibiotic and pesticide residues, and the pollen obviously is removed at the same time. My guess is that if honey that was handled in this fashion was required to be labeled as such, at least some consumers might even seek it out. "Ultrafiltered" carries a connotation in the minds of quite a few people that it must be better. "Ultrafiltered" sounds like an improvement over "filtered," doesn't it?
Many purchased honey from me ( with pollen, I may add) to take home and commented that they never tasted honey of this quality at home. -max2
Possibly. Or possibly they tried a food that they simply had never chosen to purchase in the past. I've watched enough people shopping in grocery stores to believe that few people really consider the quality of various items. If it's displayed prominently and labeled attractively, and if the product is an item that the person has consumed in the past, a grocery item needs to quality statement to appeal to consumers, I think. Look at any number of items. Processed cheeses sell well. Artificial pancake syrups sell well. White bread sells well. Any number of other items could be listed similarly.
And, in the U. S., much more honey is consumed than is produced domestically.