Bill Allibone, Sue Bee's president, said the company has no intention of telling government regulators about the bad honey it finds.
It's not really Sue Bee's honey, he said, "because technically, it's still (the importer's) property until we pay for it.
"We have not notified the FDA in the past because we don't have title to that property," Allibone said.
"We deal with a core group of suppliers that have long, established ties in the import business, and we're assuming that when we reject a load of honey, they'll return it to the people they purchased it from."
The National Honey Board, an industry trade group created by the USDA, says it's not their job to monitor the safety of imported honey:
"It's not something we do," he said. "We have no knowledge about any bad honey out there. That's not our job, and we never get reports of problems."
But in 2006, he sent an e-mail to honey board members, warning that tainted honey had been found in stores. In his warning, Boynton wrote that the industry had tested samples taken from products on supermarket shelves and found illegal levels of antibiotics.
"Two samples tested positive for ciprofloxacin at the level of 14.07 (parts per billion) and 5.61 ppb," Boynton wrote.
In a recent interview, Boynton initially denied any knowledge of the warning. He stressed that the board is "not a regulatory agency" and has no obligation to notify health agencies of potential hazards.
It seems that local honey producers are the ones sounding the alarm, and they may be doing this partly to stem anticompetitive practices from larger companies. But really, we're fine with that; the past couple of years of food safety failures have made it fairly clear that every food safety issue should be taken seriously.
"Honey Laundering: Tainted product still slips easily into U.S." [Seattle PI]
(Photo: TheTruthAbout...)
Damn, if I knew which honey came with free Cipro, that company would never go out of business.
]]>"The first problem with that is some Chinese honey is 'tainted with banned antibiotics' such as ciprofloxacin and chloramphenicol..."
Ciprofloxacin is not banned; it is one of the best antibiotics made, and is the primary treatment for Anthrax.
Disclosure: I am a Pharmacist.
]]>@Ajh: I second clover. Orange blossom has a funny smell and taste to it.
]]>"Honey I Poisoned the Kids"
I was pretty disturbed to see "includes Honey produced in Venezuela" on a bottle of what was - up until now - a Canadian honey producer.
This sort of shit is unethical.
]]>I am a honey freak - it goes on and in a lot of food I eat. Honey in my tea on my bread in my sammiches on my chicken...I may have to join Honey Anonymous.
But like many commenters here I never buy from the store. There are beehives just 5 miles from my house. In my cupboard right now are orange blossom clover wildfower almond blossom and sage honeys. The almond blossom honey is AMAZING. Local honey FTW!
]]>This is partially why I use agave now. Well that and the glycemic index agave has over honey or sugar without the Stevia concerns.
]]>Local honey should be a relatively easy choice.
]]>Plus it keeps local bee's busy visiting local flowers.
]]>Oh, and local honey is the best! I am troubled by this article though--I have a reaction to Cipro. I guess I will avoid honey from restaurants, since I have no clue where that stuff comes from, and keep my honey consumption in house.
]]>@johnarlington: Just as you can purchase locally-grown honey, you should be able to purchase locally- (or regionally-) produced apple cider.
]]>@Antediluvian: Oh yeah, and I forgot one of my favorites: butter and honey on a toasted onion bagel. Great savory-sweet combination of flavors.
]]>@mythago: I bought 5lbs of honey last fall at the local county fair -- should last me for a little while. $25. Very tasty! Not that sissy nearly-transparent stuff, either -- good and flavorful, excellent in tea or on cereal, ice cream or yogurt.
]]>The thing I find most disturbing is that in 49 comments, and not 1 person asks why are the honey bees disappearing. It is a reality the bees are dying. There are some districts in China that are hand pollenating their fruit crop. They use chicken feathers on the end of a stick to dust the flowers. Without bees you don't have to worry what country your apple juice comes from there won't bee (I meant that)any. Many scientists believe that a combination of pesticides and a type of virus (bee aids)is the problem. A lot of crops are pollenated by bees and not the wind. Check it out, it is very scary. On a different note I buy local honey and have a garden, etc. I would try to keep some bees but I don't have the acreage and am surrounded by pesticide laden cotton fields. Support your local bee keepers it about more then honey.
]]>i guess our bodies will eventually get used to whatever disease prone crap the chinese sweat shops decide to put in our food, toys and clothing.
yet american companies thought it would be better if giving the jobs to the chinese was going to be much better than keeping all those factories here in the good ol' U.S of A!
damn you NAFTA or whatever other great piece of legislative work is causing all these problems!!!!
]]>@frodolives35:thats candle. (duh) I believe the candels were a girl group in the 60s lol
]]>@jfischer: That is an awesome tip. I will be sure to ask at the farmers market. Who knows I might even make a candel or two.
]]>Most apple juice, which includes juices that use apple juice as a filler, comes from china. You can purchase huge bulk containers of highly concentrated apple juice for whatever your needs are. I try not to drink juices anymore just because of this. Who knows where the juice comes from.
]]>I like my olive oil slutty.
]]>Why is local honey better?
]]>it should help with Allergies which has been proven.
reference? Anecdotal proof doesn't count... people also believe that ufos exist
]]>I think that 'supposed to' is key. There is no scientific evidence that local honey has any impact on allergies. Anecdotal evidence doesn't mean that there is really any affect. Additionally, the pollen that causes allergies is distributed by wind, not bees. That's why it gets into your nose.
]]>When in doubt, ask the beekeeper about buying some wax. Tell him you want to make some candles. All real beekeepers have wax to sell, and are happy to sell it at "retail" prices.
]]>Mesquite and blackberry honey are my two favorites. Trader Joe's appears to be a product of the U.S. for the mesquite, but the blackberry I buy bulk at Winco. :/ No source listed...
]]>@Red-headed bookworm: Most of the time it's still sweetened. With de-ionized pear, apple, and white grape juice. If you see any of those juices in your drink where they shouldn't be, they're used as a sweetener.
]]>Look on the label. Usually 100% juice is a mix of apple, pear, and whatever the main flavor is supposed to be.
]]>My biggest challenge against the Chinese food juggernaut is actually food at the kid's school. They keep coming home during holidays with novelty candy from China.
This whole tainted food thing is all part of our race to the bottom. Cheaper everything, and more of it. All so we can keep getting fatter, die younger with lots of cheap stuff in our attics. It's the new American way.
]]>"But really, we're fine with that; the past couple of years of food safety failures have made it fairly clear that every food safety issue should be taken seriously."
And the last couple of years has made it pretty clear that it isn't. Most of the food producers seem to be taking the tack that all is well until they get caught.
Manufactuers all over the place import everything they can from China praying that they aren't the next Poison Train whistlestop.
Not matter how many industries get burned, they keep playing with fire.
]]>get us some email addresses so we can ECB these idiot.
the schultz defense -I know nothing, NOTHING! is unacceptable.
when a provider or producer is aware of a tainted product it is their as well as anyone else in the food chain's responsibility to report it.
I'm no bulk honey buyer but sue bee has been tossed and I will be picking up a new bottle from the farmers market after quizzing them with questions and handing them a copy of this page and the PI article.
People like Bill Allibone are short sighted and when the honey industry is spending millions recovering from a tainting scandal or trying to differentiate itself from chinese honey it will be too late .
]]>@JakeChance84: Where are you? I live in North Dakota and the local honey is awesome.
]]>Full series linked here: [seattlepi.nwsource.com]
]]>Buy local stuff, especially if you just use it to sweeten your tea or make hot toddies...
]]>I LOVE seeing that so many people (here, at least) are supporting the local beekeepers and honey producers. Yay!
]]>@Red-headed bookworm: I support my local farmer's market and all, but they are essentially regulationless. It feels safer and more natural, but it's difficult to tell.
]]>Unrelated honey fact (disclaimer: I saw this as a movie theater preview factoid and have no clue if it's true) - Honey is the only food that doesn't seem to go bad. Honey has been found in Egyptian tombs that is still edible.
]]>@littlemisslondon: littlemisslondon: As a fellow preggo who's on baby #3, I take that warning with a grain of salt. Eating raw honey is NOT the same as eating raw fish or meat.
For the record - and I'm NOT giving medical advice - but I've been eating raw milk cheddar and raw honey and runny eggs every day, and everyone is perfectly healthy.
]]>Yay. I always buy Golden Blossom. Or local honey in the summer.
]]>Does anyone know if Capilano Australian honey is actually coming from Australia?
]]>Honey is so awesome. It's so awesome that it should be immune to taint, but, alas, no foods or drugs in America are immune these days. So sad.
]]>NOT for infants, though.
]]>HONEY- THE SILENT KILLER!
]]>Next stop on the China Product Death Train... Tilapia!
]]>@morganlh85:
No question. Thankfully, we have a number of local producers and their honey tastes fantastic.
@mythago:
I have an almost pathologically diverse selection of local(and in-state) honey. It's amazing how different the flavors are depending on the source of the pollen. And it all tastes FABULOUS on a homemade biscuit.
Now I'm hungry.
]]>@mythago: Hell yes! I buy fresh local honey. Not only is it cheaper but it tastes better too! There is nothing like fresh clover honey.
]]>@shoelace414: Maybe because some honey can contain clostridium botulism bacteria that can harm children under two. Don't know if these antibiotics stop it.
In general using antibiotics like this can lead to resistant bacteria. This could eventually become a big problem.
]]>@Red-headed bookworm: But do you buy 100% juice made with apple juice is what I am getting at?
]]>don't let him see this article, ever-vigilant FDA
]]>@VA_White: It's scary exactly how unregulated the food supply is.
]]>@laserjobs: Exactly why I buy 100% juice without added sugar. It's juice! I don't need extra stuff added to the juice.
]]>@BlackBirdTA: Plus, local raw honey is supposed to be better for you and help with allergies.
]]>What has been proven is that honey is a good anti-bacterial and anti-septic. That's right: good for cuts, ulcers, burns, infections, and more. Makes your wounds taste better too. As always, local honey is supposed to be better.
]]>@jfischer: does produced in = product of? or is the wording different for a reason?
]]>Where do you live? Can you hook a brother up?
]]>@apronk: My bottle says that too, and I wondered the same thing. Poop.
]]>The more I read about our food supply, the better I feel about doing our best to eat local.
]]>That's scary... says Product of USA on the honey I buy, I hope that means it's from the US.
]]>rather than sugar in my tea, and for sandwiches it's divine.
]]>In Washington, this is called working within the spirit of the law.
]]>So what?! My honey was sourced from Plum Island, made right here in the USA, just off the coast of Long Island, New York.
]]>Crap. I'm eating honey on cornbread right now. . . .
]]>The antibiotics are residues from beekeepers in China eing supplied with Chloramphenicol by their government.
They use it to control a disease called "foulbrood".
It was clearly a very poor choice.
If honey does not say "PRODUCED in USA", then it may only be packed in the USA, which means it is imported honey from who-knows-where. Farmer's market honey is certain to be locally produced, as long as the person selling is an actual beekeeper. Sadly, it is not impossible for someone to get a table at the farmers market, and sell mostly honey that they bought elsewhere, as they may not have enough honey from their own hives to meet demand.
Years ago, honey from South American producers was contaminated by Nitrofurans at even lower trace levels. Regardless of the level of contamination, the honey is unfit for human consumption if it contains anything other than honey. As the contamination was barely detectable, there was never any threat to health, so we all made jokes about it, such as this:
[bee-quick.com]
But apparently, now I can't have commercially produced pasteurised honey, either.
Where's my honey? :(
]]>@mythago: Exactly. I only buy pure raw honey from local sources. Some of those products sold in stores aren't even honey. They include corn syrup and HFCS and honey flavors.
]]>This is getting old fast. I am still perplexed about the whole olive oil mess and have no idea what labels to believe as far as origin or if it even actually IS olive oil.
Free market FTW! Not.
]]>And they're giving it to BEES in China. Shit, it's like we might as well not bother trying to be environmentally and socially responsible if we're still importing stuff from there.
]]>Upside: "Pitcairn has one of the most disease free bee populations of anywhere in the world and the honey produced is of an exceptionally high quality."
Downside: "due to mailing difficulties, honey may not be received for anything from 2 months to 5 months."
]]>Well, I was until about an hour ago. Then I starting looking at Consumerist. Cut me some slack, huh?
]]>I am sure the same thing is happening with apple juice from China. Ever wonder why any "juice" product always has apple juice in the ingredients. China exports close to 50% of the apple juice they produce.
]]>I'm also paranoid about fake olive oil!
]]>Somehow I think they could argue that if they imported it but shipped and sold it here, they could still label it as being a "Product of U.S.A."
]]>but honey is a very natural way humans got sugar way back in the day, and our first alcoholic beverages mead.
All and all honey is way better for you than sugar or high fructose corn syrup.
]]>It's unprocessed pure 100% honey.
Another problem with Honey is many companies Boil it making it lose many of it's health properties. Of course the only problem with 100% honey not boiled or processed is that sometimes you may find bee parts :)
]]>@Julia Rosenfield: One thing I forgot to add, I read last year that if our nation's imports of shrimp filled the Sears Tower, the FDA wouldn't even get to the second floor before it stopped inspecting. It's pretty scary.
]]>@mythago: My thoughts exactly!
]]>Beer brewers: Honey makes a wonderful adjunct in beer making. You get the essence of what the bees made the honey from without the sweetness. Honey is wonderful stuff!
And apparently, Chinese honey can cure anthrax! Is there anything honey can't do?
]]>Wow, this freaks me out as I just bought a bear full of honey yesterday (for the first time in years, as part of a diet).
I checked, and it was at least distributed by a company in NJ (it had a NJ address on it), but it didnt specifiy where it was made. I'm concerned now.
]]>Still in the honeycomb. MMMMMMmmm!
Although, bear-shaped bottles are still cute! (I wash & refill them with fresh honey.)
]]>Who's watching most of our nation's imports? Pretty much no one.
]]>note to self: continue to buy honey from the farmer's market where it is sold by local producers. Fuck you, Sue Bee.
]]>