patrick.net

You might think of honey, like any other single ingredient food, as being hard to fake. In fact, much of the honey sold on grocery store shelves is not pure honey--it's either been processed to remove the pollen, has had corn syrup added to it, or even worse, has potentially harmful antibiotics in it.

It's called honey laundering, and it's a big problem here in the United States. ...

China is a massive producer of honey, and much of what is found in U.S. grocery stores is Chinese imported honey.

Honey laundering is a serious concern with imported honey. Chinese producers often add a step to their honey production called ultra-filtration, a process that removes all the beneficial pollen from the honey and has two results: It makes the honey more shelf-stable, and it also removes any way to tell the original country of origin.

Chinese imported honey has also been found to contain chemicals like chloramphenicol, an antibiotic banned in the U.S. that has been linked to cancer and is dangerous to some people. Imported honey has also been found to be a fraud, with high-fructose corn syrup or rice syrup added to the honey.

In 2008, because of these problems, the U.S. placed high tariffs on honey imported from China. This tariff was supposed to cut down on the amount of tainted honey and ultra-filtered honey coming in from China.

Instead, Chinese exporters started selling to middle-man countries, who then send it to U.S. importers so that the label on the honey doesn't say "made in China." While U.S. importers often test the product to ensure quality and authenticity, any honey they find a problem with often goes back to the seller, who then turns around and sells the bad honey again, this time to someone who won't test it.