Almost 20 years ago, my doctor, who created the nutritional regime for SLE (lupus) that I still follow, Dr Chris Reading told me to be very careful buying honey. Some of it was not even honey he said, it could be adulterated with many other sweeteners or could contain ingredients that could trigger reactions that pure honey would not. It could also be heat treated which was not good. He sad that the easiest way to tell was if it was heat treated it stayed liquid and clear whereas pure honey would go solid and cloudy when it was exposed to cold. SInce then I have always looked for honey that was made by small producers who label it “pure honey” and later on I would look for organic as another clue. Of course, if I can get my honey from local producers even better, like David Cook or Lonna Lopez in Berkeley and Oakland respectively, all the better! This article from Food Safety News discusses honey in the US in detail, describing the large quantity that is ultra-filtered (70%) which is not traceable to a source. China has been dumping honey that is ultra filtered on the world market which can contain banned antibiotics, heavy metals and any number of 13 sweeteners that are not honey. Support your local bee keepers and the bees of the world by choosing your honey source carefully. This will also support your health and the health of the kids you buy honey for. Pure honey is an incredible super food that we dont even know all the beneficial components yet. Ultra-filtered, impure honey at the very least, does not offer all these benefits and at worst, could be dangerous to consumers health.
FOOD POLICY & LAW
Tests Show Most Store Honey Isn’t Honey: Ultra-filtering Removes Pollen, Hides Honey Origins
BY ANDREW SCHNEIDER | NOV 07, 2011
More than three-fourths of the honey sold in U.S. grocery stores isn’t exactly what the bees produce, according to testing done exclusively for Food Safety News.
The results show that the pollen frequently has been filtered out of products labeled “honey.”
The removal of these microscopic particles from deep within a flower would make the nectar flunk the quality standards set by most of the world’s food safety agencies.
The food safety divisions of the World Health Organization, the European Commission and dozens of others also have ruled that without pollen there is no way to determine whether the honey came from legitimate and safe sources.
In the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration says that any product that’s been ultra-filtered and no longer contains pollen isn’t honey. However, the FDA isn’t checking honey sold here to see if it contains pollen.
click here for the full article: Tests Show Most Store Honey Isn’t Honey.
via Food Safety News: Breaking News for Everyone’s Consumption
