Peter said:
>In other words, go after the criminals, not the honest guys trying to make
>a living with bees.
Most of the honey sold in stores comes from outside the U.S. ( 70-80% is the
most used figure) and most is unchecked for purity on arrival (although the
USDA knows
contamination is common). .
The recent news articles about the Chinese honey with all its contaminants
barely made the news although the story is about honey headed for store
shelves. All the indictments was told but little about the contamination in
the honey confiscated.
Current price for water white Chinese honey in Florida & Texas around the
ports is around eighty five cents a pound.
Current price for water white U.S. honey is running from a buck sixty five
to a buck eighty five.
The reason store prices seem unchanged is because of the current low price
of import honey although U.S. honey prices has climbed.
I applaud packers which are buying the U.S. honey instead of converting to
all foreign honey. However those packers confide if a price war starts for
market control they can not compete unless they convert to foreign honey.
The last time this happened warehouses of U.S. honey were full with few
buyers.
I think those packers involved last time may have learned the lesson the oil
companies learned back when I was a kid with their price wars.
What the USDA does not tell people is that the safest contaminant free
honey is produced in the U.S.
U.S. produce is lower in pesticide residues than what is shipped in from
Mexico.
You do not find chloramphenical in U.S. honey or fish from southern fish
farms!
bob
Honest beekeeper trying to make a living selling only U.S. honey. I have
NEVER bought even a drop of foreign honey although I most likely would be in
better shape financially today if I had!
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