I would simply ban the importation of pasteurized honey. That labels any container like a Fingerprint. It was never needed and it was a ruse to allow adulteration.
That should allow the USA honey industry to rebuild as well
I am growing weary of all forms of fraud. Now it is targeting countries and shifts into an act of treason
.
Chinese Honey: Banned in Europe, Is Flooding U.S. Grocery Shelves. Here’s How To Know The Difference
http://magazineforhealthy.com/2016/02/15/chinese-honey-banned-in-europe-is-flooding-u-s-grocery-shelves-heres-how-to-know-the-difference/
The devastating reality is that one third of all the honey consumed
in the U.S. is probably smuggled in from China, which means that there
is a possibility that it is tainted with illegal antibiotics and heavy
metals.
Documents which resulted from the investigation of Food Safety News prove that we here consume millions of pounds of imported, unsafe honey, which is otherwise banned in numerous countries.
Even after the widespread arrests and convictions of major smugglers
over the last two years, this flow of Chinese honey continues unstopped,
despite assurances from the Food and Drug Administration and other
federal officials that the hundreds of millions of pounds reaching store
shelves were authentic and safe.
Food Safety News also interviewed numerous experts, which claim that
some of the largest and most long-established U.S. honey packers are
buying mislabeled, transshipped or possibly altered honey knowingly.
Thus they have the chance to sell it cheaper than those companies who
rigorously inspect honey and opt for quality and safety.
Richard Adee, the Washington Legislative Chairman of the American
Honey Producers Association, points out that “It’s no secret that the
honey smuggling is being driven by money, the desire to save a couple of
pennies a pound.
These big packers are still using imported honey of uncertain safety
that they know is illegal because they know their chances of getting
caught are slim.”
All shipments of honey from India were barred by food safety
investigators from the European Union due to the presence of lead and
illegal animal antibiotics.
Moreover, investigations discovered that an even larger amount of
honey apparently had been concocted without the help of bees, made from
artificial sweeteners and then extensively filtered to remove any proof
of contaminants or adulteration or indications of precisely where the
honey actually originated.
The rampant honey laundering and the record amount of the Chinese
honey purchased by major U.S. packers was proved by an examination of
international and government shipping tallies, customs documents and
interviews with some of North America’s top honey importers and brokers.
Suebee Co-Op, the nation’s oldest and largest honey packer and
seller, was contacted by Food Safety News in order to respond to these
allegations and to learn where it gets its honey. However, they remained
silent, and did not answer to any call or emails that they repeatedly
got. Other major honey seller also did not return to calls and emails.
[ this silence speaks volumes - arclein ]
Indian Honey Will Not Be Consumed in EU
The countries of the European Union and more others officially banned
this questionable honey at the beginning of June 2010. On the other
hand, and on the other side of the ocean, we live in a place where the
FDA checks few of the thousands of shipments arriving through 22
American ports each year.
Namely, FDA data shows that, between January and June, just 24 honey
shipments were stopped from entering the country. The number of loads
and the inspection team are not exposed by the agency.
Furthermore, during that same period, the U.S. Department of
Agriculture reported that almost 43 million pounds of honey entered the
U.S. Of that, the Department of Commerce said 37.7 million pounds came
from India. Yes, we speak about the same honey that is banned in the EU
due to lack of proper paperwork that it is not Chinese and proofs that
it contained animal medicine and lead.
Elise Gagnon, president of Odem International, which is a worldwide
trading house that specializes in bulk raw honey says that“There are
still millions of pounds of transshipped Chinese honey coming in the
U.S. and it’s all coming now from India and Vietnam and everybody in the
industry knows that.”
FDA claims that it has regulations that prohibited foods which are
banned in other countries from entering the U.S., but last month, its
poor excuse was as follows:It “would not know about honey that has been
banned from other countries …”
Adee said the European ban against Indian honey is far from a secret, so the response of the FDA’s is “absurd.”
He is the country’s largest honey producer, possessing 80,000 bee
colonies in five states,and asks “Why are we the dumping ground of the
world for something that’s banned in all these other countries?”-We’re
supposed to have the world’s safest food supply but we’re letting in
boatloads of this adulterated honey that all these other countries know
is contaminated and FDA does nothing.”
Using the existing resources, the food safety agency claims that it
invests the strongest efforts possible, and and will do more when the
newly passed Food Safety Modernization Act is up and running.
What are the origins of the honey we consume?
The USDA says U.S. beekeepers can only supply about a 48 percent of
what’s needed here. The remaining 52 percent comes from 41 other
countries, and the U.S. consumes about 400 million pounds of honey a
year – about 1.3 pounds a person. 35 percent of it is consumed in homes,
restaurants and institutions, and the other 65 percent is used in
industry for sauces, beverages,cereals, baked goods, and hundreds of
different processed foods.
A private shipping intelligence service, Import Genius, searched its databases of all U.S. Customs import data for Food Safety News and provided the following information:
– Over the past 18 months, the U.S. imported 208 million pounds of honey.
– Almost 60 percent of the imported honey, that is, 123 million
pounds, came from Asian countries, the traditional laundering points for
Chinese honey, with 45 million pounds coming from India alone.
– only about 48 million pounds came from trusted and usually reliable
suppliers in Brazil, Argentina, Canada, Mexico and Uruguay.
Adee, who is also a past president of the American Honey Producers
Association says that “this should be a red flag to FDA and the federal
investigators. India doesn’t have anywhere near the capacity – enough
bees – to produce 45 million pounds of honey. It has to come from
China.”
What makes Chinese honey harmful?
In 2001, the U.S. Commerce Department imposed a stiff tariff of $1.20
a pound on Chinese honey to dissuade that country from dumping its
dirt-cheap product on the American market and forcing hundreds of U.S.
beekeepers out of the business. Then, various illegal methods were used
by Chinese honeymakers to hide the origin of their honey.
In the same period, Chinese beekeepers saw a bacterial epidemic of
foulbrood disease race through their hives at wildfire speed, killing
tens of millions of bees. This disease was fought against using several
Indian-made animal antibiotics, including chloramphenicol.
Chloramphenicol as proved to have numerous harmful effects by medical
researchers, and children given chloramphenicol as an antibiotic were
found to be susceptible to DNA damage and carcinogenicity. Not long
after this, its presence in food was banned by the FDA.
Ronald Phipps, head of the major honey brokerage firm CPNA
International.andco-chairman of the International Committee for
Promotion of Honey and Health comments on this situation by stating
that“we need imported honey in this country.
But, what we don’t need is circumvented honey, honey that is
mislabeled as to country of origin, honey that is contaminated with
antibiotics or heavy metal.” This is more than just a wise conclusion.
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