Us raw honey vs imported honey – the bare facts or

Bee Better Informed:
ee Flower & Sun Honey v
s. Imported, Over-processed, Commercialized Grade Product
Did you know that over 70% of the honey in the United States is imported? The percentage of imported honey is even higher in Europe, 90%. Truthful y, the US can only meet 30% of its demand for honey, which is why we see such a high rate of import. FDA guidelines prohibit additives, such as glucose, sucrose, and more recently, “High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS), a product with the major constituents of honey present in about the same proportions, [is] now routinely available and at prices far below those for honey”*.
The European Union brought public awareness to the dangers of imported honey, particularly from the Asian continent, in 2002, when they became the first country to ban Chinese honey. The US Food and Drug Administration fol owed suit in 2002, when, “U.S. Marshals seized 266 drums of honey (each containing 639 pounds of bulk honey) and five totes (each containing a net weight of 3,000 pounds) after FDA tested and confirmed the presence of an unapproved food additive, chloramphenicol. In accordance with the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, food products that contain chloramphenicol, an antibiotic, are adulterated and are not permitted to be sold in or imported into this country. [A total of 184,974 lbs!]” …. “The continued monitoring of food production and distribution at many levels has enabled FDA to detect this adulterated honey since the agency learned of the presence of chloramphenicol in imported honey. Chloramphenicol is a broad-spectrum antibiotic drug used to treat life-threatening infections in humans, usual y when other alternatives are not available. The use of this antibiotic is limited because of its potential y life-threatening side effect, idiosyncratic aplastic anemia. For the very smal number of the population susceptible to this side effect, exposure to chloramphenicol could be serious or life threatening. Because of the current uncertainty regarding the dose-response relationship between chloramphenicol ingestion and aplastic anemia, it is not possible to define a safe level for the presence of this antibiotic in food products.”** You may be asking, how is it possible that adulterated honey is stil sitting on our store shelves? Simply because these unlawful activities not only continue, but have flourished, even
as recently as 2008, resulting in such circumvention as “…entering Chinese honey transshipped
through other countries. The arrests of 2 employees of the German importer Wolff for al egedly
transshipping Chinese honey as Russian honey sent shivers through the international honey
market.*** Let’s face it, some of our honey packers think, ‘the imported honey is cheaper, so
why not cut the product, and average the cost, thereby increasing the profit margin?’ Bee Flower
and Sun Honey Company takes pride in their pure raw honey, which offers the quality and flavor
produced only in the hive. It is unfiltered for more taste and value – and contains al the natural y
occurring antioxidants, pol en enzymes vitamins and minerals. One taste tel s. We guarantee
that no value is taken out, nor is any cane sugar, corn sugar or anything ever added. As a family
owned and operated business, we maintain ful control over the production, packing and
distribution of our product. We are committed to helping consumers know the quality difference
between imported vs. Bee Flower and Sun Honey.
The flavor and nutritious quality of our raw honey is careful y preserved by processing it with time-honored old world techniques. Unlike most packers who use temperatures up to 160
degrees to pasteurize and filter, in order to avoid crystal ization, we only warm our honey to
under 105 degrees to facilitate handling. Bee better informed, buy Bee Flower & Sun Honey!
Bee Flower & Sun Honey CompanyPO Box 661Pittstown, NJ 08867Ph: 908-735-6946 *University of Florida, IFAS, Honey Adulteration, Malcolm T. SanfordENY103, May 1, 2003 http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu**FDA Talk Paper, T03-10 February 5, 2003***Honey Market Report June 18, 2008

Source: http://beeflowerandsunhoney.com/bee%20better%20informed.pdf