Hi Tracey/All Tracy, you mention your worries about chinese honey - I have mine too (my country has just unwisely as usual decided to import a few hundred tonnes of chinese honey). However one must bear in mind that Asian peoples havea fantastic understanding of life that is missing in the west. They view farming practises (I am generalising here) in a three dimensional perspective - whereas we in more western/ised countries view it more on a two dimensional perspective. We would do monoculture - the chinese not. An example is varroa - I would never like to see western honey sold in my country as it is produced in countries which are so balze about dangerous chemicals it is terrifying. I would prefer chinese honey produced by a people who have survived successfully with a high density civilisation for more than 4000 years as opposed to our chemical enhanced western one. My immune system can deal with bacteria and gunk in honey that may have a bit of brood - but my liver cannot get rid of fluvalinate, my bones will have orange lines in them from terramycin that will enable archaeologists in future times to work out exactly how many times in my life and how old I was each time I got sick. As regards your question about rats - I wonder if Chinese people would be vaguely queasy about buying things from a culture which is blatantly at war with the environment - we spend millions of dollars a year in westernized countries on poisons which cause rats, one of the most intelligent animals on the planet, to die by having their guts chewed out and haemoraging to death! I can tell you I would much rather buy something from a country which utilizes animals which use environmental 'waste' space, rather than turning those animals into biohazardous waste that kills falcons, felines, canines etc. Just some thoughs Keep well Garth Garth Cambray Camdini Apiaries 15 Park Road Grahamstown Apis mellifera capensis 6139 South Africa Time = Honey If you are not living on the edge you are taking up too much space!!