Dee said:
I too have been in on the early setting of organic standards or should I say
the fighting over it.

The fighting comes about when many of the beekeepers only want *the
certification* so they can get (or think they can get) a higher price at the
marketplace  without doing the hard work of  at least attempting to produce
an "organic" honey.

People Like the Lusbys should be rewarded for the efforts and are valuable
asset to the industry with their product. The testing at the end proves to
the consumer that the Lusbys  did  produce what they claim.

but

What if a jar of my honey passes the same  rigerous testing with ZERO
contamination. is my honey an inferior product? Is my jar of honey worth a
third the price of the Lusbys ? Hmmm.

Without testing of the final product the whole organic honey thing stinks in
my opinion. The honor system and allowing those under the "organic' banner
to police their own operations has never worked in the U.S..

Dee said:
Working around it with advice from friends in Africa and
Europe we label our honey based upon our field management.

My advice from the start!

Dee said:
Very simply we say: Produced by Organic Methods without the
usage of chemicals, essential oils, drugs, FGMO, and acids.

All excellent selling points! I believe you have held yourselves to a higher
standard than will ever be used in the world for "organic honey production"
as long as varroa is a big threat!

I believe a place exists in the market for a product like Dee is producing.
The product moving into the U.S. market place by packers  with blanket
"certified organic honey certifications" has not been treated  as the
Lusby's have produced their honey

HOWEVER I bet  the honey will test the same on the mass spec machine.

Is the U.S. honey supply really a health hazard?

I don't think so!

The FdA is testing thousands of jars of U.S. honey for contamination. If
all the domestic honey is passing with flying colors then please explain the
need  for organic honey ?

I see plenty of need for random testing by the FDA with the present level of
chemical use in hives going on in both the U.S. and the world. Let us double
or triple the random inspections!

OR IS THIS WHOLE ORGANIC THING REALLY ABOUT CONSERN FOR THE CONSUMER?

Dee said:
Also we do not believe in clipped queens due to AI.

You lost me here?  What does a clipped wing or instrumental insemination of
a queen have to do with the purity of honey. Will eating honey from a hive
headed by a queen bee with a clipped queen or has been inseminated cause a
health problem ( or are you simply trying to set a standard for organic
honey which most will give up on before they try  because of severe
limitions in their present beekeeping practices?)

Dee said:
Then to the pharmacies that have bought for zero tolerance
and passed samples thru the FDA for their testing, we also
tag each barrel of honey extracted by floral source, date,
and location.We also have allowed in the past, any sampling
desired by Pharmacutical purchasers, to see if we have been
contaminated in any way from outside sources that could
then be sued later on for contaminating us thru wrongful
application of treatment products.

Hope you carry excellent product liability insurance? The paper work is to
protect the drug makers and not you if a problem arises!
My brother is a lawyer.

Bob

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