At 05:13 PM 9/17/97 -0600, Allen Dick wrote:
>Pasteurized, Unpasteurized, Not Pasteurized, Natural, or Raw?
 
>What's the difference?
 
That's the question, what's the difference?
 
In the good old USA many jurisdictions have differing views on so called
"Natural" labeling of HONEY. For an example one label CAN NOT indicate by
its wording that it contains something that the other does not. All honey
is Natural and RAW honey (You don't wash it the packer did it for you.) and
may not be allowed under federal and state law so these terms may or may
not be in use. (Local beekeepers and regional local packer may be getting
away with it but that does not change the fact that the label can not be
used to show an advantage when there is none.)(It is always best to check
out the latest local laws pertaining to Honey before adding your own label
as these laws not only differ from area to area but they are changing all
the time on all levels of regulation.) The most popular glass honey
containers used in the US are not large enough to have everything on the
label that could be put there and still show the honey in the jar, the day
will come when honey is sold in a sub container that contains the legal
notices and warnings, plus the instructions for use.
 
The best equalizer and penalty is retail price, and if a packer has more
then one label and different prices in any one market, say one is labeled
with any of the adjectives one sees describing honey, the price may not
differ or only slightly. The way this is enforced if by consumer complaint
(sometimes setup by those who's real interest may be a little different
then the consumer) and Honey gets its share of complaints. When a complaint
is voiced to the right agency then the packer of that honey finds his honey
under a microscope and the pressure is on. The retail buyers LOVE this as
they get much discounted stuff to sell in this way and can resell to the
packer the shelf space he thought he  already owned because he paid for it
one or more times. Look for this kind of stuff in the big so called chain
drug stores in the US. The retailer sets the price for honey so it is he
that is responsible to see that pricing confirms to laws and like so much
in mass retailing the retail price more times then not does not reflect the
true difference in wholesale price as the low end or house brands are many
times marked up to a little less then the majors, but the percentages are
higher, in hopes the price shopper will buy it as the cost is less and the
retailer makes more per unit sold.
 
Every area of the US has a different system of standards when it comes to
processed foods, and little real government inspection, and some states do
have some real neat ideas about speciality honey. Outside of the view of
these agency's the only difference in Honey retailed in the US is the
label, not that there are or have not been at least one honest honey packer
in the US, maybe it was George Washington, but since then I think the last
one may have passed on long before my time. Some do try but soon find out
what the real time market demands are, and they are not what beekeepers
think it should be, and since we no longer retail our own honey we really
have nothing to complain about or any say in it anyway once we sell it to
the honey packer. We can dig as deep into our pockets as we want to promote
HONEY and as soon as our money runs out the packers and retailers will do
what they do best, buy low and sell high playing beekeeper or food
processors one against the other.
 
When the price of honey was high, as high as a dollar US, some said it was
honey promotion, others said it was keeping honey from China out, we
learned later that honey from China came in the back door anyway, but now
that the honey price is in decline all is quit and no one wants to take
responsibility for it's down trend, how come? Must be we cut back on the
promotion, or more honey from China or South America is coming in, or could
it have something to do with no matter what the size of your crop if you
only have 15 packers handling 50% of the total US market that the packers
may be in the cats bird seat and driving this market over the hill. I can
guarantee they would say it is those dirty cheep foreign honey exporters
that they buy their honey from that are responsible, heck no body in South
America should get so much for honey anyway as they don't know what to do
with all that money, we all know they live like Kings on only three dollar
US a day down there.
 
Come back to America, Honey is a good food product and it is sad that any
in the industry have to seek an advantage to sell theirs with flaky
abstract ideas about one honey being better then another because it is
labeled differently. Truly some of these abstract ideas can be measured,
but I can tell all, shout it to the world, no matter what standards you
think your honey is held to in your area  that if it becomes short in
supply that will not keep others from your market.
 
Today's honey market is in the US, this has not always been so and tomorrow
the market may be in Mexico, or So. Africa no one can be sure.
 
Any beekeeper can turn the clock back by returning to the production of
comb honey that wants a truly natural package for his honey. The only thing
that is more natural about one honey over another is that any honey if
mishandled it naturally will go bad. Liquid honey will crystallize, honey
will ferment, and some will darken with age, or cumulative heat units, all
of this is natural but few would call the consumers attention to these
features.
 
Not that things can not change, a few years ago the beekeepers who manage
the SUE Bee honey Co-Op wanted to make more small change for the honey they
produce and they do have a natural label, AUNT SUE, it started out a
premium honey and producers earned as much with it as SUE BEE bottled honey
but fell short on the color bonus of course. Over the years it has slipped
and now earns three or more cents less then SUE BEE label of that water
white Sue syrup as it is called by AUNT SUE honey producers. There is a
difference in the type and processing of AUNT SUE honey compared to SUE
honey. One is Western production and the other is Mid Western or Eastern.
Western honey is by nature very low moisture, most packers blend high
moisture honey with it or add pure water to bring it up to Eastern
standards. Some South Eastern honey may need moisture removed before it can
be packed in glass because of the danger of explosion if left natural. But
any can blow up a 55 gallon drum if no handled right by the producer.
 
AUNT SUE honey is not filtered using DE so it does contain small amounts of
flower sperm cells (pollen) a substance that may be good for bees but is
considered by others the largest part of the contaminants (dirt)on the
earths outer layer, and one ingredient that hundreds of millions of dollars
in health care money are spend each year to overcome the symptoms it
causes. Why anyone would want this pollen in honey is beyond me as it does
not occur in honey naturally other then as a contamination. Bees don't add
it to honey, if you add much of it to their own honey and feed it back to
them they will get sick and die. It's the beekeepers that add pollen to
honey in the extracting process as they do many other things that must be
removed before off farm sale is allowed or they would even serve it at
their own table. (I won't list them, but many would gag a maggot and few
would argue their promotion value.)
 
Now lets talk real promotion, about the (U) on honey labels. Most don't
know that there is a difference between honey that has a (U) on the label
and honey that does not and that it really can actually be measured. In
fact most reading this will have to check the next time they are in a super
market to even find the (U) as it does not jump out at you from the label.
It also can not be sold in any Arab country with the (U) on the label, no
it is not honey guarantee free of Pig Weed, but honey that the tyes have
been paid to the Jewish State Religion through a plan that Al Copone
started, some say, to insure the honey has been processed under Kosher
conditions. This honey can not be sold for any more then the same honey
that does not have the (U) on the label so the difference is that it costs
more and sells for the same, what a way to market a commodity and that is
what will happen to any "natural" certification program for honey except
the honey label will have a (N) on it for being a (N)natural food that all
in the business know can be damaged by mishandling at all levels of
handling and naturally go bad. (Sticky containers, part granulation,
fermentation, adulteration and more.)
 
PS. I am writing about conditions as I see them in the USA, not the most
enlightened place in the world or am I the last word on any subject so if
you are doing things different in your country more power to you, go for
it, but don't try to market it here as any more then what it is, HONEY, or
maybe you will have it back in your own lap unless you can sell it cheep,
then send it without the return address as if there is nothing wrong with
it when it leaves your shed who knows what could happen and the way to the
circus.<G>
 
 
IMHO, the OLd Drone
Los Banos, California