Yes, there's another reason why the honey we buy in grocery stores across the country might not be the real stuff. Food Safety News tested more than 60 samples of honey and found that the majority were missing one crucial ingredient. And, technically speaking, honey isn't actually honey without it.
Pollen. This naturally occurring feature of honey adds nutrients and antioxidants, and also acts as a biological thumbprint. Without pollen it's impossible to figure out the origin of the honey and under which conditions it was produced. A sample of honey with pollen can yield such information as whether the honey contained blackberry or clover pollen, and whether the honey has been mixed. But a sample of honey without pollen lacks all identifying information.
In Food Safety News' tests of honey from grocery stores across the US, the majority of honey tested had been ultra filtered to the point that no trace of pollen could be found. And, according to the Food and Drug Administration, a product that doesn't contain pollen isn't honey.
Honey producers defend ultra filtering by claiming consumers want clear honey. But what this really points to is that the honey may come from questionable origins. Contamination of Chinese and Indian honey is documented, as is the illegal exportation of that honey into the US market.
The article points to some mind boggling statistics and makes another strong case for purchasing local honey. What do you think? Have you been unknowingly buying fake honey? I have. And I don't think I will again.
• Read more: Tests Show Most Store Honey Isn't Honey at Food Safety News
Related: Honey Laundering: How to Avoid Buying Contaminated Honey
(Images: Flickr user Bothered by Bees licensed for use under Creative Commons)
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Comments (30)
Nothing is safe. Fortunately, this is something else I always buy local.
One more reason to KNOW YOUR BEEKEEPER.
(I know mine - I've lived with him for 51 years... :-P)
Arrgghhh! This is such frustrating, horrible, scary news! Not all of us have a lot of access to local honey...
Gross. Stiles Apiary of NJ, you continue to get my business.
I haven't bought grocery store honey since I first tasted local honey in college. It changed my world-- so much flavor! such a range of (beautiful) colors!!
also, for those of you who have trouble finding local honey, don't feel afraid to stock up on it when you do come across it. honey never goes bad!
-TwoWheeler- you made me smile all over my face! I received a bottle of 'local' honey in the post from my hubs' mother for my birthday recently and smiled to myself, rolling the recycled packaging between my hands, knowing this was special...'might not be local to me, but it's local to her and we've been to the little roadside stand where they sell that honey. I need to find a great honey-nummy recipe to bake up and send to her...
I stopped getting supermarket honey once a local news team exposed it wasn't 100% honey!
I've been using honey from local apiaries and the difference is amazing! I also feel better because I'm supporting local agriculture, small businesses, and bees are generally good for the envirnment
Supporting local apiaries is not only good for the local economy, it's good for local agriculture! Many crops cannot survive without pollinating insects and honeybees are the best at doing this, with the added benefit that they give us honey.
My favorite is buckwheat honey, which is produced in our area/region. So dark and tasty. More like dark maple syrup than the bright acidity of clover or wildflower honey.
Local honey is better than honey from other locales because it can actually decrease allergy response. There is an interesting immunology trick where oral ingestion of a contact or inhaled allergies can turn off the IgE (histamine related immunoglobulins). Also, I prefer unpasteurized honey for wound dressing...both the high sugar content and the naturally occurring anti-microbials are helpful in decreasing infection.
I love my semi-local honey. I moved so my guy is about an hour and a half away so whenever I get back in that direction I get a gallon or two at a time from him. For those in town that want to try something new: http://inhabitat.com/philips-unveils-sexy-concept-bee-keeping-gadget/
I'm intrigued by this, but more than a little nervous about unleashing bees into my apartment. XD
Pollen or not, I prefer the taste of Agave Nectar to honey.
Local honey is usually raw honey -- is that safe for cooking?
Thanks for the article! :)
Unfortunately, the local-honey-decreases-allergies angle has already been proven false here (http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/food-science/fact-or-fiction-eating-local-honey-cures-allergies-146636), but there are so many other reasons to eat local honey that others have pointed out. Good for local agriculture, the environment, plus it just tastes better!
And another reason to stock up on one of the best souvenirs ever-- other people's local honey! My cabinet is full of Swedish, Tasmanian, and even Hawaiian honey! I just adore the variety of taste and texture you find out there. Nom.
Why isn't the FDA enforcing the law?
Hi, I just wanted to add another note about fake honey. We are in our first year of raising bees at our farm, and to get them "established" we fed them a mixture of sugar water and soy protein. I know, it's really weird, but apparently it's an industry standard, even for an certified organic farm. Anyway, the bees still produce honey, but it's honey produced from sugar water and soy, not nectar and pollen. It's ultra-clear and nearly tasteless, and we definitely don't sell it to anyone. While we have been waiting for the hive to establish, we have been planting tons of nectar-rich flowers around the farm, so they will always have a great supply of food, and presumable, we'll have real, great honey. But this makes me wonder - how do commercial honey farms provide a high nectar supply for their bees? Or are they just feeding them sugar water and soy?
My friend gave me a huge jar of local honey that she found at Costco, of all places. At first I had no idea what to do with it all, since I've always thought of honey as a condiment, but I used it in place of sugar in a few recipes and it worked perfectly. If the recipe isn't sugar-heavy, I don't even notice a difference in taste.
i thought how could honey be fake? after reading the article i know that it can't be fake, you just make bullshit titles. what you are writting about isn't fake honey but that the honey likely is overfiltered, therefore less natural and healthy and might not be american honey and therefore might have a higher possibility of being contaminated. which is a bad thing, but doesn't make that honey any faker than any american honey.
Does anybody know where I can get local honey in NYC? I've never tried honey from supermarkets because my grandparents are beekeepers. However they live outside the U.S. so I'm only able to get it when I or my parents or siblings go to visit or when they come to visit.
Gunter's honey seems to be the real thing - I worked in a health food store that sold it. Met a nice man from the company, who delivered it. They also had honey with the honeycomb, and that stuff is the real deal. I think the honey is produced in Virginia. By bees. :)
@pedalpowered A lot of commercial honey in the US is produced from bees that pollinate crops and those bees are in high demand from farms. No need to feed them sugar water and soy. I expect this is also the case in other countries as well, however the problem with honey from bees that have been pollinating crops is pesticides (one of the main reasons honey from China isn't supposed to be imported).
Gaby, you can get local honey at almost any farmers market in the city. Even the smaller ones tend to have something. And, if you get really lucky, you might be able to find a jar of the honey made in Fort Greene, Brooklyn!
@Sagekitten, that doesn't surprise me about Costco honey, because Costco is also one of the better places to buy olive oil if you can't buy it directly from the producer. UC Davis's olive oil study last year or the year before found that the Kirkland EVOO was the most pure of all oil sold on the grocery/big box store shelves, and pretty much any bottle of imported (Italian included) EVOO is corrupted with other oils. Kirkland is the only OO I buy now, if I can't grab it from the local dudes.
our town recently passed a law requiring inspections, certifications, and permits for anyone that is selling food at farmers' markets. Naturally, we now have almost no farmers to buy directly from. And our honeyman is gone. But, just this last week, I found local, unfiltered honey at the Chinese grocery. So, if you live somewhere that doesn't have readily available farmers, try the ethnic groceries, some cuisines use honey a lot more than American cooking does (not Chinese though, I guess we got lucky) and you may have good chances.
To find local raw honey, google "raw honey" plus your state, county or local rural or suburban zip codes. You may find your county's beekeepers' organization website where a list of beekeepers may be listed by location.
Since our local farmer's markets have stopped for the year, I did that search for local beekeepers & found one that sells her raw honey at her family's Dairy Queen 20 minutes from my house ... how many times have we enjoyed Blizzzards there?!! Small world ... love that!
@Elisha - interesting about the Kirkland EVOO, I will check it out next time I'm at Costco. Hope I don't have to buy it in a 10 gallon jar though!
This is why I buy my honey locally from this darling little old man who keeps bees as a hobby. I imagine this is easier to find depending on where you live... but localharvest.org is a good place to start. :)
@Elisha, thanks for sharing this ... love Costco; but, I didn't know that encouraging info! I buy my EVOO from Trader Joe's.
@sagekitten85 ... Costco has reasonably-sized bottles of EVOO.