Do you know where your honey comes from? Food Safety News reports that as much as a third of honey (and likely more) sold in the United States has been imported from China. So what? Much of this imported honey has been banned in Europe and likely contains potentially harmful additives. How can you avoid it?
One sure way to avoid imported honey is by buying it locally. Buy from farmers' markets and other suppliers that can guarantee its source. Although the FDA has signed off on the imported honey, the fact that it's been banned throughout Europe isn't a good sign. Honey from China and India has been found to contain several Indian-made animal antibiotics, including one the FDA has banned in food. Honey from India and China has also been found to contain lead.
So why isn't it banned in this country? The short answer is that it's a difficult thing to control. The United States imported 208 million pounds of honey over the past 18 months and while many efforts have been made to stop contaminated honey, almost 60 percent of imported honey came from traditional laundering points for Chinese honey. The EU believes honey from Asia to be contaminated and many feel the U.S. should follow suit.
Did you know about honey laundering?
• Read more: Asian Honey, Banned in Europe, Is Flooding U.S. Grocery Shelves via Food Safety News
Related: Web Resource: Honey Locator
(Images: Flickr user botheredbybees licensed for use under Creative Commons)
Magic One-Ingredient Ice Cream 5 Ways: Peanut Butter, Nutella, and More
Make Chocolate Magic Shell Ice Cream Topping with Only 2 Ingredients
Our reading list
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Candy Stripe Teaspo...
30 DIY Projects for the 3-Day Weekend
Tina Wilson's Striking Style 
Comments (12)
Not about laundering, but about blending. The honey that comes in the plastic bear and is mostly honey from China is pretty worthless, in my opinion. I try to buy local honey, even though the fact that it is pretty expensive means I don't get to use it as often as I'd like to.
Favorite way to eat honey? Drizzled on sweet cream biscuits with a little salted or cream butter. YUM!
I had heard that a lot of imported honey is often cut with HFCS but the lead and antibiotics is news to me. Hardly surprising, though.
Local honey is plentiful where I am and can often be found at roadside stands, farmer's markets and street fairs. The flavor is almost completely unlike the stuff that comes in the honeybear at the supermarket and if you don't use it fast enough it tends to crystallize.
Just sent my husband an article about this a day ago! Good job informing your readers.
I think it's scary!
But, I'll just continue what I've always done and buy local honey!
People keep busting "the plastic bear" but folks: LOTS of brands now come in a plastic bear because it's cute marketing. I have been known to buy the plastic bear from Stiles Apiary in New Jersey. It's local honey, in a plastic bear.
It's more like a figure of speech. Much of the local honey here comes in a plastic bear here too.
I just thought it sounded better than "Big Honey" or "generic supermarket mass-produced honey-colored stuff".
We buy locally and have for two years. Before my first bottle I hated honey with a passion but I'd only ever had the cheap-o imported type. I'll never go back! Our local honey has a richer, less achingly sweet flavor with a hint of wildness to it. MUCH better than the honey that's imported.
Also, many restaurants serve "honey sauce" that they casually call honey to lower costs. So if you're eating out reconsider the bear.
I didn't like honey much until I tried a local variety. The flavor difference is amazing. It's expensive but it's worth it, and this only confirms it.
Buy local! Shout out to Tremblay Apiaries, which sells at the Union Square Greenmarket in NYC. I love their honey!
My grandparents give me a HUGE jar of honey every year they get it from a neighbor, I think it could fill like 20 bears! So find a source of honey and be their friend!
I count myself lucky to live a two minute walk from the once a week farmer's market in my neighborhood. Fresh fruit, veggies, honey, and other goodies :)
Buying honey local is all well and good, but keep this line in mind: "The remaining 65 percent is bought by industry for use in cereals, baked goods, sauces, beverages and hundreds of different processed foods."
So unless you're all prepared to cut out every packaged food item (bread, cereal, granola, tea, etc., etc.) that contains even a trace of honey, buying local is only going to win part of the battle.
I only buy my honey from local farmers at the markets in my city. I also try not to eat as much processed foods as possible. The only other source for me is dining out. But most of the restaurants I choose are also on the local bandwagon, buying from Green City Market.