Peter Dillon said:

> 1.Relating to UF:
> It would be interesting to recall who pushed for this procedure to be deemed
> as an acceptable part of honey conditioning (during the recent updating of
> regulations controlling what is and what maybe done to honey.)

I am told by a reliable source that ultrafiltration has been used
in a legitimate way for years in the creation of a very high-quality
and very light mead.  The specific ultrafiltration done to make mead
was developed at Cornell University, and was designed to remove even
the proteins from the honey, which cause "cloudy" mead.

But taking most of the water back out again and trying to
call it "honey" is the "highly creative" step.

> 2.Before total confidence is lost in our fair product -

Any beekeeper that feels that "exported honey" from far, far away
can have any negative impact on "our product" has been brainwashed
by those who profit by importing honey from far, far away.

What would any consumer who hears about the problems do?
What would any consumer who hears about the apparent skullduggery
and unethical attempts to defraud entire countries do?

If you answered "not buy honey at all", then you have been brainwashed,
and need to reconsider your reasoning.  You also need a new sign
that proudly says "Local Honey", or perhaps ">>LOCAL<< Honey".

        (Funny story - a very hefty lady stopped me downtown
       last week and asked me when I was going to have this
       year's crop of "Lo-Cal Honey" ready, pronounced as in
       "Low Calorie".  I did not attempt to correct her, as
       honey is "low calorie" compared to many other things.)

> is it not time to get this procedure banned.

One can never "ban" a refining process, but one can prevent those who
use it from labeling the output of the process as "honey".

> 3.Adulterated honey, allied with GMO, pesticides, medication potentially
> being present in a final product suggest a fragile position for honey before
> the buying public. Not many people are going to be supplied by the small
> friendly beekeeper living at the bottom of the leafy lane.

This is a depressing point of view.

Why should honey require "infrastructure", long-distance shipping,
industrial techniques, and mass-market tactics when truffles do not?

Why do Italian markets all have an entire wall devoted to different
obscure brands of olive oil produced by individual families?

Why are entire shops in the Middle East devoted to honey?

How did Starbucks educate an entire generation about the different flavors
of different types of coffee beans while even beekeepers still speak of
"honey" as if it were all identical?  (For that matter, how did Starbucks
convince people to pay such high prices for a cup of coffee in a paper cup?)

Repeat after me - "Honey is NOT a fungible commodity!"

Keep saying it until you believe it.  (Maybe look up "fungible" when you
have the time, and note that honey is NEVER given as an example of "fungible"
in dictionaries.)

Peter, you live in France.  How many bakeries are in your town?
Does bread from elsewhere have any chance of being as respected
as the bread of the local bakers?

From a strategic point of view, the fact that the lowest-cost (and highest
volume) producer on the planet had a quality problem is not as big a deal
as the tactics used by those who trade in generic honey to try and cover up
the problem (false flag trans-shipment and ultrafiltration).  Nationalistic
and/or protectionist producers could not have asked for a better way to
contrast their product with the highly processed stuff from who-knows-where.

What do you think the Evian bottled water company does whenever news
of new pollution threats to public water supplies appear in the news?
They certainly do not wring their hands and worry about "the image
of water".  They INCREASE their ad budget for that area, and make sure
that their retailers are well-stocked.

Yeah, it is frustrating being a producer in any country that is a net
importer of one's favorite crop.  Get over it, and sell AGAINST the
low cost stuff!

        "What's the difference between your honey and generic honey?"

           "Well, its hard to explain...
         Do you cook with olive oil?"

      "Sure."

         "Have you ever cooked with motor oil?"

      "Of course not!"

         "Then you understand the difference!"


                        jim (Who's father taught him that "selling iceboxes
                       to Eskimos" was easy once one realized that
                       refrigerators keep food from FREEZING SOLID.)

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