This issue of testing is becoming more and more of a food industry bugaboo
across the board. Most of the points and questions raised by Jerry for
honey, have impacted the meats, dairy and/or fresh produce sectors as well.
And one by one, those sectors are all being required to test now for certain
contaminants. It used to be that the testing was limited to things like E.
coli, salmonella, etc. Testing requirements were sporadic from county to
county, state to state. The USDA wanted to make things relatively easy on
growers, but the FDA got involved with various federal regulations. The
meat and dairy industries were first, and they screamed and ranted and
wailed but they were eventually overruled. Now testing for all sorts of
contaminants is considered everyday life for the meat and dairy industry.
Fresh produce is just now coming into the spotlight for all the same
reasons, with all the same industry concerns and objections. The FDA is
getting pushier about insisting on federal-level standards, sometimes over
the objections of the USDA. If you ever want to see a catfight writ large,
watch two federal agencies go at it sometime. The entertainment value is so
good it's almost worth beer and popcorn. But in all previous fights, and in
this latest fight (with the Food Safety Modernization Act), my money is on
the FDA. Once the consumer lobby outnumbered the farm lobby, the numbers
behind the FDA were simply too large to ignore.
After the fresh produce industry's forced inclusion in the testing realm,
there's not a doubt in my mind that honey will come onto the radar at some
point. I give it a max elapsed time of 10 years, but probably less.
The ironic thing in all this, is that many people object to the criteria and
costs associated with organic certification. But one industry at a time,
one federal rule at a time, those costs and documentation requirements are
being forced on producers and processors anyway. At which point, there
comes a time when organic certification is more cost effective than going
without. Does that make sense? No. Do federal agencies ever make life make
sense? I'll let folks answer that for themselves. Is testing going to
become a much bigger part of the food industry, including honey? Almost
certainly. Just a matter of time for the FDA to get annoyed that honey
hasn't been brought into the fold.
Kathryn Kerby
Frogchorusfarm.com
Snohomish, WA
-----Original Message-----
From: Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Jerry Bromenshenk
Sent: Thursday, March 12, 2015 1:45 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [BEE-L] more information on certified organic honey
Charles asks:
Have we reached a point where our testing is the problem? As
mentionedbefore you can find anything about anywhere. Are we trying to be
insanelystrict??Charles
My response, good question, but:
Actually, many of these non-ag chemicals found in beehives occur at ppm
levels, some at hundreds of ppm, not the ppb levels that the public and the
ban the pesticide groups worry about.
Granted, many of these chemicals are not as toxic, but we've found arsenic,
cadmium, used to find lots of lead (banning lead from gasoline did make a
measureable difference, and on the east coast the levels of chemicals like
xylene, toluene, benzene at some urban locations exceeded OSHA indoor
laboratory limits.
It's like the gluten issue. Some people don't tolerate it. But, for those
who do, is it better to be on a glutton free diet and increase your arsenic
intake, since rice is often used in gluten free, and rice often has elevated
levels of arsenic.
Choose your poison, gluten or arsenic?
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