I got an interesting call yesterday from a friend that owns a
chain of health-food stores.

He was selling "Honey Stix", the plastic soda-straw-sized
containers filled with honey.  He was only offering the "plain",
not the flavored versions, selling them next to the cash register.

I do not know where he got them.  I do not offer them, as it
is obvious that honey must be heated to high temps to liquefy
it to fill such small diameter tubes, and I limit my heating of
honey to the minimum required to resurrect any retail packages
that become crystallized.

Rather than a fancy point-of-sale display, he had a simple
candy jar, labeled "Honey Stix" containing the honey stix.

The Virginia Department of Food and Drug Inspection visited
one of his stores, and said that they would have to be removed
from the store, because they were not labeled properly.

The employee speaking with the inspectors got the impression
that the "problem" was that the individual Honey Stix packages
were not labeled.

Of course, this fellow asked me how one might "label" such
containers.  My off-the-cuff reply was "with a loooong narrow
label", but I honestly do not know.

Another interesting facet was that, since the Honey Stix were
not labeled, and all the jars of honey for sale had my labels,
the inspectors may have gotten the mistaken impression that
the Honey Stix also were "mine".  The consumer might also
make this mistaken assumption, so I am forced to defend my
own reputation, and suggest that the point-of-sale display, if not
the individual Honey Stix, should be labeled with a producer name,
packer name, and country of origin, as is required for jars of honey.

Has anyone else run into this scenario?  I ask because most
inquiries of this sort tend to be based upon concerns that are
shared amongst inspectors in more than one state.  (Hey, they
likely have their own newsletters, mailing lists and UseNet
newsgroups, just like beekeepers...)

Does anyone know just how hot the machines that pack these
things heat the honey?  I'm assuming that the honey is heated
to the point of minimum viscosity to speed handling.

...and has anyone tasted the flavored versions of these things?
From which planet do those "flavors" come?  To my tastebuds,
all those flavors are both overpowering and appear to be flavors
hitherto unknown to the tastebuds of mankind.

        jim