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Sounds like you are quite up to speed on the honey issues.

As an aside of sorts, one which you may be familiar but most are not;
Interestingly enough, honey with pollens can be readily identified as to pollen source by electrical testing methods.

Can't remember the exact source I recently got that from, but I was in the UC Davis Library studying a range honeybee info. The info came from a good source, claimed the testing was accurate, effective, and cheap/easiest, too. Mixed flower sources of course, showed a range not readily identifiable. But one can tell clover from canola & alfalfa, cotton from soy, those from orange blossom, avocado, etc. Each flower source had it's own signature which would repeatedly produce "signature" results (though there was one pairing that were close to be near indistinguishable --- cannot recall which).

I think you've nailed the present methodology of "honey laundering" also.

Mexico is a big honey producer, too, let's not forget. I don't want to accuse without evidence, but if I was in the employ of the Dept. of Ag, that would be a direction to consider.

They wanted to build that big tollroad up through Texas didn't they? If that's allowed, it's to have the Chinese ships unload in Mexico (cheaper, less environmental rules) then drive China exports right into the middle of the U.S. using Mexican truckers (cheaper, less environmental and truck safety laws).

Since the Chinese know all of that, why not use Mexico for a honey laundering locale, too? Even without the tollroad. The Mexican honey biz is big enough to hide many a barrel of sin within...

We can be sure they've "thought of it" at the least.

“Since the Chinese know all of that, why not use Mexico for a honey laundering locale, too? Even without the tollroad. The Mexican honey biz is big enough to hide many a barrel of sin within...”

I really think that in the long run, the best way to deal with Chinese honey is to push on the quality side. As people get used to eating more local honey, they’ll demand it and you really can taste the difference.

The problem with the Chinese honey isn’t that it’s Chinese, it’s that they’re pawning off their garbage on us. Give me some clean and carefully produced, exotic honey and I’ll be happy to try it and eat it. It’ll also be more costly and not so much a threat to our domestic industry.