Subject: Organic honey

From: [email-masked] (Andy Nachbaur)
Date: Thu, 14 Mar 1996 05:59:00 GMT

>Subject: Organic honey

F>I recently saw some jars of organicaly grown honey! in a health food
 >store.Can somebody explain to me what it is?

Hello All,

I can't not tell you for sure without seeing the label, but 99% of
the time honey found in the so called "health food" store is labeled
"organic" and used as an good excuse to charge the consumer more. This
is not always the case and once in awhile you will find the price
comparable to the grocery store or in a rare case even less.

Honey purchased from the producer would be as close to organic as
you can get. Organic honey should be produced with a minimum or no
use of chemicals, few can do that today and keep their bees alive.

It should be extracted with out the use of heat or with the minimum
use of heat and should not be filtered using any filter aid so that
it contains some of the so called natural things it picks up during
the extracting process such as pollen. Comb honey as rare as it is
today is really the only so called "organic" honey you can be sure
is close to natural or organic as you can get.

Some states watch the selling or promotion of so called "organic"
honey, but you can be sure that it is a rare case that goes to court.
In California if a packer, such as Sue Bee, a beekeepers marketing
co-op, has a natural label, called Aunt Sue, this honey is not polished
filtered and is as close to organic as you can expect from a large
packer. Aunt Sue or any other honey can not be sold in a retail
grocery store at more then a few cents higher then their regular honey
based on the <contents of the label>, such as "Natural" or "Organic".
The state's idea behind this is that unless the wording on the label
which still may be different from brand to brand, but must also
represent some measurable difference if the distributor wants to try
to get away with price gouging. A consumer protection feature for
sure.

The big deal in California today is the ethnic Mexican market, and
right now they are getting away with highway robbery by charging a
premium for honey hocho e' Mexico, which is not different then the
honey hocho e' California, USA. Many of the big chain stores have
separate or two honey displays, one for Mexican labels and one for
domestic labels, this way they are not easily price compared by the
consumer. This has replaced the two displays they use to have, one of
"organic or natural honey", and the normal display of honey. In a way
these retailing straitest have been good the the honey production
industry and have helped increase the consumption and price we are
paid, as they for sure it has caused an increase in sales as the more
shelf space we have in any store the more honey will be sold, and when
it is not selling that shelf space for honey no matter what was paid in
bribes to get it will decrease.

Tupelo Honey at one time, I don't know about today, was one of the
favorite verities for health food stores, and at one time there was
some very good regulatory efforts to insure that the consumer was indeed
getting real Tupelo Honey and not a thin blend or something all together
different. It was a state effort, and I suspect both of these examples
are the exception today as the cost to do this kind of regulatory work
would be prohibitive in the light of some other real rip offs that are
real consumer health issues. Such as the small problems such as corn
syrup being added to honey. Sorry to say the first place you will find
this type of adulteration will be at the fruit stand, or health food
stores or mail order as these seem to be the last places on anyone's
list to check because of the small number of consumers they serve.
Today you will find most investigations are done only on complaint by
other producers or producer groups or after many public complaints.

When I think of organic honey myself I always think about how if honey
is mis handled and what it will become, not from the stand point of
our health, but the dark, sticky, and half crystallized jar's of honey
that use to be so common on the grocers shelves. As all honey
is organic and if not handled properly will turn to a most
unattractive product. (Not what I usually say, but a polite way of
saying it)

Today honey is heat posturized, filtered, vacuum packed, and safety
sealed so consumers get a quality and nutritious, and very safe
food product. The last trip I made to one of those national health food
stores you find in the malls, I was struck that they were selling honey
that matched the above with only a label change. It is still Buyer
Beeware when it comes to buying 'organic' honey, unless you keep on
friendly terms with your local beekeeper or have some bees of your own.

                            ttul Andy-

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