Honey laundering: The largest food conspiracy in U.S. history!!!

Honey laundering: The sour side of nature’s golden sweetener

As crime sagas go, a scheme rigged by a sophisticated cartel of global traders has all the right blockbuster elements: clandestine movements of illegal substances through a network of co-operatives in Asia, a German conglomerate, jet-setting executives, doctored laboratory reports, high-profile takedowns and fearful turncoats.

What makes this worldwide drama unusual, other than being regarded as part of the largest food fraud in U.S. history, is the fact that honey, nature’s benign golden sweetener, is the lucrative contraband.

Honey has become a staple in the North American diet. Those that do not consume it straight from bear-shaped squeeze bottles eat it regularly whether they know it or not – honey is baked into everything from breakfast cereals to cookies and mixed into sauces and cough drops. Produced by bees from the nectar of flowers and then strained for clarity, honey’s all-natural origin has garnered lofty status among health-conscious consumers who prefer products without refined sweeteners (think white sugar and processed corn syrup). About 1.2 million metric tons of honey is produced worldwide each year.

The source article continues:

What consumers don’t know is that honey doesn’t usually come straight – or pure – from the hive. Giant steel drums of honey bound for grocery store shelves and the food processors that crank out your cereal are in constant flow through the global market. Most honey comes from China, where beekeepers are notorious for keeping their bees healthy with antibiotics banned in North America because they seep into honey and contaminate it; packers there learn to mask the acrid notes of poor quality product by mixing in sugar or corn-based syrups to fake good taste.

None of this is on the label. Rarely will a jar of honey say “Made in China.” Instead, Chinese honey sold in North America is more likely to be stamped as Indonesian, Malaysian or Taiwanese, due to a growing multimillion dollar laundering system designed to keep the endless supply of cheap and often contaminated Chinese honey moving into the U.S., where tariffs have been implemented to staunch the flow and protect its own struggling industry.

Read the remainder of the article. It is quite long, but eyeopening.



See also:

Global Conspiracy to Illegally Import Chinese Honey

I wonder how many of you knew about this?

reply to post by loam


This is probably the sweetest thread ive seen on here Loam, shame it ends with a sour taste in my mouth

What will it be next ?

Good work old mate S&F.

most processed honey in America doesn't have the healthy qualities that organic honey does. if you look at the consistency of raw organic honey it looks much different than processed honey. there is also a huge difference in health benefits from organic honey, which is lost in the processing of most American honey.

reply to post by scubagravy


Wanna really put on a tin foil hat?

I couldn't help but wonder if the dramatic plummet of the bee population here and elsewhere is possibly the result of industrial espionage. Scary thought, huh?

Buy local honey, problem solved. Don't have local honey? Stop eating it. What about bread and cereals I buy? Go Paleo diet, problem solved.

reply to post by loam


... and that is why I buy raw honey straight from bee keepers or the Amish.

I didn't know about all the info you listed, but since "local" honey is supposed to be good for treating allergies, I prefer to buy it locally.

Scary stuff, I tell ya! Really makes you wonder what else we don't know. We have no idea what we're eating these days. I buy organic when I can and I garden in the summer, but still... some things you just HAVE to buy from the store. I'm a label reader, but this article proves that some things are left out! That pisses me off.

reply to post by loam


That did cross my mind also, just had a quick look into it, unfortunately im about to leave on a 12 hour drive, so we'l pick this up when i get back, until then, bee-have yourself

reply to post by freedish


I've always wondered... how do you know if honey is truly organic? I'm not questioning YOU at all. I've heard that there's no such thing as organic honey because bees fly around and to my knowledge, there's really no way to regulate where they go, so who's to say that they don't eat from flowers that have been fertilized with Miracle Grow or something similar? I mean, that doesn't bother me, but wouldn't that keep it from being truly organic?

Maybe there's a whole lot I don't know about the process. I'll admit to that. It's just something I always wondered about. Anyway, you get a star for making me think, lol.

Isn't this a story from 2007?

reply to post by 0898jools


The source article says the following:



But this conspiracy was first alleged and investigated in 2002. Apparently, the problem has continued unabated all of this time.

Manuka honey (very Dark coloured) is the true health giving honey but very expensive. Plenty of it in NZ for now anyways.

reply to post by loam


Thanks, Loam, for the OP. S&F for you. I did NOT know this. But I should add that I like to buy my RAW honey from health food stores. I also like honey still in its honeycomb. I can't remember the last time I bought honey from a regular supermarket. Now (thanks to your OP) I know to be extremely careful about buying honey in a supermarket.

SeaWind

Originally posted by gemineye
reply to post by freedish

 

I've always wondered... how do you know if honey is truly organic? I'm not questioning YOU at all. I've heard that there's no such thing as organic honey because bees fly around and to my knowledge, there's really no way to regulate where they go, so who's to say that they don't eat from flowers that have been fertilized with Miracle Grow or something similar? I mean, that doesn't bother me, but wouldn't that keep it from being truly organic?

Maybe there's a whole lot I don't know about the process. I'll admit to that. It's just something I always wondered about. Anyway, you get a star for making me think, lol.

That's an excellent question. I am looking at some honey jars right now.

"Really Raw Honey" pesticide-free, straight from the hive, unheated (unpasteurized), unstrained -- still contains everything from the hive -- pollen, propolis, honeycomb and live enzymes. I call this "chunky honey." But it doesn't say where the honey is harvested. That should be a red flag. The company is based in Baltimore, MD. I won't be buying this again.

"Raw Manuka Honey" from Y.S. Organic Bee Farms, imported from New Zealand. Has a "Biologic Rating"(?) of Active 15+. I'm not sure what this means, but I can tell you that I believe I cured my gastric ulcer with this honey. It's strained, unpasteurized (live enzymes) and delicious. Unfortunately, this stuff was very expensive.

I have a special fondness for New Zealand honey -- NZ is famous for its comparative purity in air, water, land, & flora. "Airborne" brand NZ honey is sold in many different flower types -- always delicious, but it's strained & I suspect pasteurized. It's blurb reads: "This premium quality New Zealand honey has passed stringent laboratory analysis to ensure it meets our uncompromising standards for total consistency of varietal colour and flavour."
Bought at Whole Foods.

But as for your question -- I don't have an answer. Maybe someone else here knows.

SeaWind

There was a BBC doco about the honey industry and how it possibly related to the decline in honeybee numbers. It aired last summer. They described how the US industry feeds them processed sugar syrup...corn syrup.

The colonies are freighted across the States to follow the seasons and maximise honey production. The program highlighted that bees' natural cycle is active for one season, but the corn syrup diet and transport extended this cycle to two or three consecutive seasons. Not withstanding that the demands on the bees is unnatural, it was suggested that the exhaustion and malnutrition in the populations was a serious contributing factor to their declining numbers.

Corn syrup is lacking in the proteins, fats and vitamins that bees would get from a natural diet. Over time, such deficiencies(sp?) take their toll according to the show...

The presence of pollen in the hive plays a vital role in the productivity and well being of the colony. Pollen is the principal protein source to bees, but also provides vitamins, minerals and fats essential for the development of brood and young adult bees. The protein content of pollen can vary from 7 to 30% (by weight) with an average of about 22%.

Longer periods of insufficient protein will affect the entire colony resulting in reduced egg laying and brood development. Young nursing bees may not fully develop their hypopharyngeal glands causing insufficient production of brood food. This in turn may lead to spotty brood patterns that are often misdiagnosed as the result of a failing queen. To offset any pollen shortages, pollen supplements or substitutes can be given. Pollen supplements will not necessarily cause the bees to reduce pollen collection in the field.

Link

There are more details and links in the wiki article...Colony Collapse Disorder

reply to post by Kandinsky


Excellent info, Kandinsky. So it seems to be greed at the base of this stupidity -- again.

SeaWind

Another great article from about six months back:

China's Honey Trade Buzzing With Corruption

Businessman Yan Yongxiang was trying to get around stiff U.S. levies on imports of cheap Chinese honey. So he sent 15 shipping containers of cut-rate honey to the Philippines, where it was relabeled and sent on to the United States.

It's called honey-laundering, and the subterfuge let Yan skirt $656,515 in taxes before he was caught in a bust and pleaded guilty. Yan's factory in central China's Henan province even filtered the metals and pollen from the honey so that U.S. tests would not show it came from China, according to the 60-year-old's plea agreement. Now he awaits sentencing in a U.S. jail.

Honey-laundering is just one of many unsavory practices that have besmirched China's vast honey industry and raised complaints from competing American beekeepers. China produces more honey than anywhere else in the world, about 300,000 metric tons (660 million pounds) a year or about 25 percent of the global total. But stocks are tainted with a potentially dangerous antibiotic and cheaper honeys are increasingly getting passed off as more expensive varieties.

I found this out when I developed allergies to honey long ago.

Peanuts too....

Buy locally,it will keep you feeling well.

reply to post by loam


Another good article. So "place of origin" labelling cannot be trusted. I've really been naive about honey. I had NO idea how corrupted the supply was. I wonder if the majority of the public is aware of this?

SeaWind

Originally posted by chiponbothshoulders
I found this out when I developed allergies to honey long ago.

Peanuts too....

Buy locally,it will keep you feeling well.

I think that's good advice. There's good local raw honey sold here too -- includes the comb. But again it's "health food store" honey.

SeaWind

Grow your own! Keeping bees is one of the easiest things to do. Or you can always find a local bee keeper to buy direct. Check farmers markets etc. Or put an ad on craigs list.