The Fed also keeps butter and honey. My mother used to come home with government cheese, butter, and honey and let me assure you that you absolutely cannot buy quality like that at your corner market!
Don’t know if the Fed still keeps honey, but in the late 80s hobby bee keeping was good and I had plenty to sell at craft sales, etc. It was in the hay days of government commodity give-aways. A few older ladies examined mine and in an aside, one asked the other why the government honey was dark and this was light. I was busy with another customer and did not get a chance to talk to them, but there are two main reasons for honey to be dark.
1. The basic colour and flavor of honey is determined by the source flower. There are many shades and a few dark honeys command high prices, but most are less desirable.
2. The honey is old and has not aged gracefully.
Large honey producers had two options, take your chances sell on the open market or sell to the government at what was likely a lower price. I suspect most producers would sell their less desirable product to the government and try to get a higher price for the easier to sell lighter product.