HMF?  Its not just a chemical, its a price support
for European beekeepers!

HMF is one of the biggest and best con games ever
to be thought up in the honey export/import game.

If you thought that fire drill (dare I say "Chinese
Fire Drill"?) over trace levels of chloramphenicol
in honey was a good con, you'll just love "HMF".

If your country has cool summers, HMF levels are
very low in harvested honey, and it takes only a
little care to keep the HMF levels very low during
and after processing.

If your country has hot summers, HMF levels are
higher in harvested honey, and no amount of care
can lower the HMF level after harvest (to my
knowledge, at least).

While it is true that honey heated to within an inch
of its life will have a much higher HMF level than
honey that is not, there is no claimed health impact
from higher HMF (which is why higher HMFs are allowed
in "baker's honey", but not in higher-value "table honey".)

Despite this, countries that otherwise rant and rave
about "free trade" when it suits them, see fit to impose
illegal non-tariff barriers to trade based solely upon
HMF levels, which is a blatant protectionist move.
The EU sets these limits in "Council Directive 2001/110/EC".
HMF may not be more than 40 mg/kg, except for baker's honey,
where amazingly enough, no limit is specified.

Now, if you think about who has hot summers and who has
cool summers, you can easily figure out who likes the HMF
standards unilaterally imposed by the EU and who does not.

And if you think about the price delta between table honey
and "baker's honey", you can figure out what a great con
game this is for the protectionists in cool countries.

You can gnash your teeth and rend your garments over this,
or you can admire the elegance with which some countries
speak "free trade" out of one side of their mouth while
simultaneously protecting even their beekeepers from
anything of the sort.  The good news here is that moves
like this inherently doom "world trade" (WTO, NAFTA, et al)
as all countries learn to tap-dance their way around the
agreements, and do exactly what they want regardless of
what the agreements say.

As far as being an actual indicator of quality honey,
HMF is to honey quality as phrenology is to neural anatomy.

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