Buyer Beware

This article from Food Safety News have been making the rounds over the past few days, and has some concerning information for folks buying honey. Nearly 75% of honey sold in stores have been heated and filtered to a point where all the pollen has been removed. In fact, if the bottle says it has been ultra-filtered, the USDA doesn’t even consider it to be honey anymore.

Pollen in honey is like a human fingerprint. It allows analysis to determine the region where the honey was produced which is an important tool used to help stop the import of foreign honey produced using questionable practices.

So make friends with your friendly neighborhood beekeeper or buy locally produced honey at a farmer’s market. What you’ll be tasting is a honey unique to your city or town.

2 Comments

Filed under beekeeping, education, honey

2 responses to “Buyer Beware

  1. Nicole

    I am in search of my neighborhood beekeeper- how do I go about finding local Austin beekeepers to buy honey from?

    • There are several stands at the various Farmer’s Markets that have honey for sell including Round Rock Honey which is a locally owned company that has very high standards for their honey. You can also try posting on the Austin Urban Beekeeping Discussion Board to see if anyone is selling their honey. However the drought was tough on everyone this year and most folks probably didn’t get much honey for themselves much less an excess they would want to sell.

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