WELLNESS--According to Food Safety News, ¾ of all honey sold in the United States is not honey at all. Most countries in the world set quality standards by ensuring there is pollen in honey.
Honey is produced in a beehive. Bees leave the hive to collect sugar rich flower nectar and then return with it. Once back in the hive the bees use their stomachs to ingest and regurgitate the nectar a number of times until it is partially digested. This will leave trace amounts of pollen in the honey, which is a crucial part of the health benefits of honey. Without the pollen, it can be argued that the substance labeled “honey” that many mainstream American grocers are buying and selling is not honey at all, but rather a dangerous sugar based imposter.
If you are buying honey and it is already in full liquid form, there is a good chance that is actually just a nasty sugar liquid alternative. The way they make the liquid so clear and runny is by heating it up known as pasteurization and by running it through filters. In the process of heating and filtering the honey, most or all of the pollen is removed stealing the most important compound from the honey.
Your best bet is to buy honey labeled “Raw” and be sure it is from the US. There are some companies from China labeling honey as “Raw” that is anything but. Raw honey looks thick and at room temp may be fully or partially congealed. If you can buy from a local honey provider, say at a farmers market, even better!
For those of you reading my articles consistently, you will begin to see a pattern when it comes to food. There is no short cut to getting high quality foods that are safe for your body and for the planet. Most of the time it requires a little more work and some more cost as well. This is money well spent.
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Over the last 2 years there has been widespread arrests in the honey industry for the importing and selling of illegal fake honey. In spite of these arrests, the illegal consumption and sale of this unhealthy substance is still making to our shelves. “It’s no secret that the honey smuggling is being driven by money, the desire to save a couple of pennies a pound,” said Richard Adee, who is the Washington Legislative Chairman of the American Honey Producers Association. “These big packers are still using imported honey of uncertain safety that they know is illegal because they know their chances of getting caught are slim,” Adee said.
Once again, when it comes to food safety and concern for health over money, the European Union is ahead of us. After finding lead and illegal animal antibiotics in fake honey brought in from India, The EU has banned further shipments of “honey” that comes from questionable sources. The EU also found other illegally produced honey that was apparently produced with no help at all from bees. This material had been pasteurized and filtered so many times it was impossible to figure out where it originated.
Spend your money wisely. Stop thinking that just because there is a food product on the shelf at the grocery store it is healthy and safe to eat. That has never been the case and it certainly isn’t today. As we have seen time and time again, for example with Pepsi removing aspartame from its formulas, the only way these companies change their ways is when their bottom line is affected. When you buy food, do your research and be sure what you are getting what you actually want. Remember that we vote every time we spend money, and that it is our responsibility to buy food responsibly to protect our health, our families health and the planet we live in.
(Christian Cristiano is an acupuncturist in LA, TV host of Wellness for Realists and writes on wellness regularly for CityWatch. Christian can be reached at 323.935.3420. twitter: @CristianoWFR)
-cw
CityWatch
Vol 13 Issue 77
Pub: Sep 22, 2015
