Are you sure the honey you are pouring into your tea is really honey?
It may sound like a silly question, but there’s plenty of evidence to the contrary.
Two weeks ago, a federal court in Illinois finalized agreements with two of the country’s largest industrial honey processors, Honey Holding of Baytown, Texas, and Groeb Farms Inc. of Onsted, Mich., which resulted in millions of dollars in fines for their roles in illegally importing Chinese honey.
Dubbed “Honeygate” in the industry, the investigation stretches back to 2006. As part of their deals, both companies cooperated with federal investigators and paid fines instead of facing indictment and prosecution on charges of illegally importing honey from China.
Groeb Farms agreed to pay a $2 million fine, and Honey Holding’s fine was $1 million.
Chinese honey is known to contain traces of antibiotics that are not approved by the U.S.
A 2011 investigation by veteran food journalist and Pulitzer Prize winner Andrew Schneider for Food Safety News showed that more than 76 percent of all grocery store honey tested had its pollen filtered out. Without pollen, the substance can no longer be classified as honey, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. But more importantly, filtering out the pollen makes it impossible to trace the honey’s source.
Brands tested came from 10 states and includes names you will recognize: Sue Bee, Giant Eagle, Archer Farms, Kroger and Valutime.
It’s important to note that Food Safety News is an online newspaper published by Marler Clark, a Seattle law firm that represents victims of food-borne illnesses. Marler Clark has an obvious stake in exposing food safety issues.
Wherever there is money to be made, there will be folks willing to bend the rules and put our safety at risk to increase their profitability. Our food system is ripe for adulteration. I’m sure plenty of you have taken note of the ongoing horse meat scandal in Europe.
Which is why it is refreshing to get to know a group like the Tri-County Beekeepers Association. The association, which has members from throughout Northeast Ohio, holds its annual spring meeting every March at the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center in Wooster. For the past two years they have invited me to help judge their honey cooking contest at the meeting.
Plowing my way through samples of more than 30 honey cakes, breads, pies and assorted other dishes is a tasty way to spend a Saturday morning. But it’s also heartening to know that such a vibrant group is working to protect our local ecosystem while helping to keep our local food system strong and providing us with a product we don’t have to look at with a wary eye.
Chris Merkle of Orrville’s Bunker Hill Honey Farms, a past president and active member of the association, said educating local beekeepers about how to best manage their hives will help to keep local honey available.
Merkle said ultra-filtration, which is practiced by industrial honey producers, strips away the pollen, which is the honey’s DNA. Current testing is so sophisticated that pollen can be traced to a specific area and specific plants within that area.
Industrial companies argue that the process helps to create a clearer honey that customers want, and one with a larger shelf life and less crystallization. But Merkle said the use of the practice is pretty obvious: “Ultra-filtration is a way of masking where it comes from.”
Merkle said at the heart of the problem is a lack of education in countries like China, which results in the wrong substances being used to maintain hives. An antibiotic that might be safe for use on a cow should not be used on honeybees, he noted.
Through the association’s work, local beekeepers learn how to maintain their hives as naturally as possible. If that involves chemicals, Merkle said they are approved for use with bees. He noted that the best practices for beekeeping should involve “as few chemicals as possible.”
And that makes local honey the clear choice.
Lisa Abraham can be reached at 330-996-3737 or labraham@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter @akronfoodie.