There has been some discussion among some of my beekeeper friends about the contamination issue, and I believe the American Honey Producers have considered some kind of testing program.

In light of this, I was stunned to learn about a Kansas beef producer that sought to satisfy it's Japanese customers by installing a lab to test each carcass for mad cow disease. Japan has closed off all import of US beef, as have some other countries. All was set to go, when the US Department of Agriculture shut down the privately funded testing program (http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/18/national/nationalspecial2/18COW.html), forcing the producer
to lay people off since the Japanese market is now closed to him.

It appears this is based on an old 1913 law, but the more immediate cause was pressure by large US meat packers that don't want anyone "breaking ranks" and testing for mad cow to satisfy the Japanese or the Europeans.  Oddly enough, as the article points out, the US recently took steps to allow certification of organic foods that would appear, at least, to support a producer intending to provide additional quality control certifications.

It certainly appears that any movement by US beekeepers to provide similar testing might run afoul of these same legal and political influences.

What has happened to the land of the free and the brave.....?

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