> If unpasteurized honey is not allowed in Canada

Forgive me if my post was misleading.  Unpasteurized honey is certainly
allowed in Canada and on graded honey.  However, at present you cannot label
it unpasteurized (or raw, or unheated.....).

Here, in specific is the definition of pasteurized used in the Canada
Agricultural Products Act that is under review:  quote:

"pasteurized", in relation to honey, means treated in a registered
pasteurizing plant by the controlled application of heat so that the honey
is free of viable sugar-tolerant yeasts.    end quote

Actually, in my opinion there is some merit in this definition, since
pasteurization is a process dependent on two variables, both temperature and
time, and various combinations can lead to the same result.  I have not
looked at ALL the bee-l logs related to pasteurization, but it is clear to
me that most posters were dealing with pasteurization temperatures necessary
to kill bacteria, not yeasts.

Most beekeepers honey houses in Canada that are registered and inspected
would be registered as producer-grader establishments, and even in the next
classification up, packing establishments there is a separate category for
pasteurizing plants.  I assume that only these registered plants are allowed
to label the honey "pasteurized".

Canada No. 1 is the grade name of honey that in addition to other
requirements (including filtering through at least an 80 mesh screen)

"contains not more than 17.8 per cent moisture or, where its container is
marked "pasteurized" or "pasteurise" not more than 18.6 per cent moisture;"

Similarly with Canada No. 2 the beekeepers honey can be up to 18.6 per cent,
and the pasteurized can be up to 20%.

I have reviewed some of what is in the bee-l logs, and it seems that there
is little agreement on this subject on the list, and so it is not surprising
that the politics are complicated and frustrating to the food inspection
people.  But it seems to me that there should be SOME label that small
producers graders have available to put on honey that has been directly
packed at not remelted from drums or other containers.  If the honey is not
heated over 35 C and only strained through a 10 mesh screen (sorry I don't
know how that relates to microns, and interestingly enough the regulations
are NOT metric in this regard although they are strictly so for container
weights) then I think one should be able to say so on the label.

Regards, Stan