> If North American beekeepers get smart, and get with the program, > this trend to demanding rigourous documentation may prove to be > a beneficial and help maintain price for qualifying product, > inasmuch as some low-priced imported product may have difficulty > providing a truly convincing history and a reassuring enough paper > trail to satisfy careful corporate buyers Given the successful track record in creating paper trails for "false flag" country of origin exports/re-imports sufficient to claim that Chinese honey is a Product of Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia, and so on, I am confident that these same individuals will have one of the best-looking "Quality Assurance" paper trails in the industry, worthy of ISO 9001 certification. This is not to say that their drums will suddenly be new, clean or even acceptable for multi-mode transport, or that the honey within will be "clean", or even actually honey. > and their insurers. This is an interesting point. How many recalls does the FDA impose before an insurance company raises liability insurance rates for that honey packer? I'm forced to wonder if any honey packer, even the large co-ops, even have product liability insurance. I know that my "errors and omissions" premiums have more than doubled since 1995, and I've never had a claim. jim ("Lawn and Order" in beekeeping can't be just "To Deflect and Swerve") :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: -- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/BEE-L for rules, FAQ and other info --- ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::