Honey Laundering: Tainted product still slips easily into U.S.

Officials are rarely notified

"If we buy Chinese honey, as we do far too often, we know it may contain chloramphenicol or some other antibiotic that is illegal in any food product," said Brady, who produces about a million pounds of honey a year. "To find it and not report it is criminal."

Two-thirds of the honey Americans consume is imported and almost half of that, regardless of what's on the label, comes from China, the Seattle P-I reported last month. Full Story »

Posted by Dwight Rousu

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Dwight Rousu
4.6
by Dwight Rousu - Jan. 26, 2009

This is quality investigative journalism on a subject that can touch anybody who might eat a product that contains honey. Buyers in the industry who find contamination are not required to report it and it gets sold to another buyer who may not have sophisticated testing, and it reaches the public. Implications are important for MRSA and allergies to the foreign substances.

I had honey on my cereal this morning. Could bee contaminated.

Some beekeepers have reported such practices to state and federal agencies, but “nothing is done,” Olson said. “We’ve screamed our heads off for so long, so that’s kind of a dead subject. We just gave up.”

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Dwight's Rating

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