Are You Buying Fake Honey?

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If you live in America and buy honey at your local supermarket, chances are you are buying fake honey. Most of them are nothing more than honey flavored corn syrup and definitely not the health product we all think it is.

There is actually only one test that proves honey to be real or not. If the honey doesn’t contain pollen, it isn’t honey. Which is the case for 76% of all honey found on American supermarket shelves, according to Food Safety News, who tested about 60 different samples of store-bought honey.

The Story Behind The Fake Honey and Missing Pollen

In the normal honey making process, honey is filtered to remove big particles such as bee parts, waxes, and other materials. This is to make honey a bit more presentable and is nothing to worry about as almost all pollen stays intact.

So why would one put more energy and money into processing it at high temperatures and pressure which also removes all pollen and most other nutrients?

If you ask any American beekeeper why you would process a product that’s already perfect and remove bee pollen they will all tell you one thing: to hide its origin. Pollen are like some sort of finger print which can trace back the origin of the honey.

Here’s what Richard Adee, a U.S. honey producer who keeps 80,000 hives has to say about that:

“There is only one reason to ultra-filter honey and there’s nothing good about it. It’s no secret to anyone in the business that the only reason all the pollen is filtered out is to hide where it initially came from and the fact is that in almost all cases, that is China.”

What’s Wrong With Chinese Honey?

China is known to produce cheap honey diluted with high-fructose corn syrup and other inexpensive sweeteners. All too often it is also contaminated with animal antibiotics, to kill diseases, and heavy metals from unlined, lead-soldered drums to collect and store the honey before processing.

After a few big scandals the Federal Trade Commission decided to impose higher tax on Chinese honey to stop import of it. But there is no stopping, China now simply launders its cheap honey to another country before they ship it to the U.S. to avoid the import tax, making the honey still cheaper than honey produced in the U.S.

To make sure their little dirty secret stays hidden, ultra-filtration is needed to erase all pollen and evidence of tracing it back to China.

Which Honey Can You Trust

Ultra-filtered honey is a crystal clear transparent yellow-ish liquid, raw or unprocessed honey on the other side is cloudier, less pourable and spreadable, and still contains particles such as small parts of the honeycomb.

The best place to look for real honey is to visit local beekeepers or farmer’s markets. If you don’t have any of these close by, opt for organic raw honey brands in your local food health store. These are usually coming from trusted suppliers as well.

 

About the author:

Amy is a life and food lover, certified biologist, and holistic health coach. She is the founder of the healthy lifestyle website body-in-balance.org and creator of the online program, “ThinForever”. After successfully changing her family’s health and happiness, she’s on a mission to help other people achieve the life and body they want. You can find here on Facebook or Google+ or get her FREEclean, whole food recipe eBook “Amy’s Home Kitchen” here.

 

Sources:

http://www.foodrenegade.com/your-honey-isnt-honey/

http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2011/11/tests-show-most-store-honey-isnt-honey/#.Vbrohvmqqko

Amy Goodrich
Amy is a life and food lover, certified biologist, and holistic health coach. She is the founder of the healthy lifestyle website www.Body-in-Balance.org and creator of the online program, www.ThinForever.me. After successfully changing her family’s health and happiness, she’s on a mission to help other people achieve the life and body they want. You can find here on Facebook or Google+ or get her free clean, whole food recipe eBook here: http://www.body-in-balance.org/amys-home-kitchen-recipe-book/