Fighting Honey Laundering

Live Link:  Zester Daily

By Terra Brockman   |   Monday, 23 August 2010   

I was a teenage beekeeper. And a geeky one at that.

I knew that one bee, in her brief lifetime, collected nectar enough for only a half teaspoon of finished honey. I knew that she and her sisters together flew more than 50,000 miles, dropping in on about 2 million flowers to produce just one of the one-pound glass jars that I filled with glowing liquid amber at midsummer and again in late autumn. And I loved reading about bee behavior as much as I loved inhaling the distilled essence of summer in freshly extracted honey.

And so, even though I had long ago hung up my bee veil near a stack of old hive parts, I was distressed to learn that the tale of honey has recently become more sticky than sweet. 

On the global front, there’s been a lot of buzz about “honey laundering.” This accurate neologism refers to the way in which millions of pounds of Chinese honey have been making their way into the United States labeled as originating from other countries, and often contaminated with the banned antibiotic chloramphenicol, which can cause fatal aplastic anemia.

100 ways to end independent and family farms and ranches

Below is a partial list of the massive effort to seize control of the US food production and supply.  This control, if successful, will end family and independent producers, handing this sector of our economy over to multi-national corporations who fund and write the legislation and who contract with USDA and FDA against the people.  Every thing from milk and eggs, to beef and pigs, they want it tracked, traced and controlled by the Fed.  Think its about food safety? Its about control and who gets to profit.  ##########

Live link:  WashingtonWatch

111th Congress (2009–2011)

S. 510
The FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (4 comments | 4 wiki edits »)
Costs $15.79 per family

P.L. 111-233
The Agricultural Credit Act of 2009 (9 wiki edits »)
Costs $0.34 per family

P.L. 111-80
The Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010 (8 comments | 18 wiki edits »)
Costs $1,170.15 per family

H.R. 814
The TRACE Act of 2009 (7 comments | 3 wiki edits »)

H.R. 875
The Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009 (110 comments | 5 wiki edits »)

S. 2758
The Growing Safe Food Act of 2009

S. 1783
The Dairy COOL Act of 2009

H.R. 3626
The Exemplary Breastfeeding Support Act (3 wiki edits »)

H.R. 3624
The Poison-Free Poultry Act of 2009 (1 comment »)

H.R. 3623
To amend the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008 to provide funding for successful claimants following a determination on the merits of Pigford claims related to racial discrimination by the Department of Agriculture (3 wiki edits »)

H.R. 3587
The Nutritious Food for Health Families Act of 2009 (3 wiki edits »)

S. 1645
The Federal Milk Marketing Improvement Act of 2009

Sugar Free Imitation Honey – WTF???

By Barbara H. Peterson

I’m as forgiving as the next gal, but really! There is a limit to my endurance. Hubby went shopping the other day and brought home HoneyTree’s Sugar Free Imitation Honey. This product is “a proud sponsor of the Diabetes Research Institute” according to the label on the container. Yes, it was in the honey department, and yes, the container looked and felt like a honey container, and yes, hubby was trying to be helpful, and yes, he is half-blind, and yes, it was the cheapest on the shelf. However, it was only after looking at the ingredients on the label that I was truly repulsed:

Maltitol syrup, natural and artificial flavor, Acesulfame K, Malic acid

I was especially attracted to the ingredient labeled Acesulfame K, so I looked it up. The following comes from SweetPoison.com:

Time stands still in a Honey yard

 

As the slow methodical dance unfolds between the Apiarist and her hives, a drop of sweat slowly rolls down the back of her neck. Even at 40F in February, she knows that the actions she takes now can make or break this colony of 50,000 bees. The husbandry that she applies will provide liquid nectar in a few months time – a sweetener that has been cherished throughout thousands of years by the human race, and of course, wildlife.

Neither DATCP or the State of Wisconsin can adopt International Standards in the form of Codex Alimentarius

 by: Paul Griepentrog (c) copyright 2010 All Rights Reserved

________________________________

______________________________________________________

Sen.Decker@legis.wi.gov

Dear Senator Decker,

Just a note to remind you that neither DATCP or the State of Wisconsin can adopt International Standards in the form of Codex Alimentarius, in so far as International Standards can only be adopted by Federal authority pursuant to the Supremacy Clause which reserves the right of international treaty to the Fed.

The bill does nothing to stop adulterated honey either dilute with corn syrup or contaminated by antibiotics.  In fact if Codex standards were effective why wasn’t contaminated Chinese honey kept from entering the country in the first place.  Where were  the FDA and USDA when this occurred.  Instead of dealing with the failed agencies which would include DATCP for allowing it into the state you seek to force Wisconsin producers to bear the burden for the failure of the aforementioned administrative agencies.   Why hasn’t DATCP ordered the removal of contaminated products?  Is it that it’s easier to burden the state’s producers than to deal with Walmart and the big chain stores?

I await your reply.

Paul Griepentrog

Letter from Sen. Decker:

Wisconsin Senate Bill 419 “who’s your honey now” bill

by: Paul Griepentrog (c)copyright 2010 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

                                                       

Link:   Wisconsin Senate Bill 419 

In my discussion with a legislative staffer regarding the intent of this legislation I was informed of the following;

1.  Complaints regarding adulteration would be generated at the consumer level.
2. DATCP would then take the remaining material for testing regarding possible additions of high fructose corn syrup.
3. If adulterations were detected DATCP would then forward complaint against distributers of the adulterated honey.
4. The program would be voluntary for participation of Wisconsin honey producers. READ MORE