http://www.seattlepi.com/local/397445_honey26.html
Sue Bee Vice President Bill Huser said 315 different beekeepers supply 60 percent of the 40 million pounds of honey the Iowa-based company sells each year. The rest is imported.
To protect consumers, Huser said, the company does extensive and elaborate testing on the imported honey, finding shipments laced with chloramphenicol, an illegal antibiotic, about once a month.
When it's found, he said, it's sent back to the broker who imported it.
Won't report it to FDA
That doesn't sit well with some members of the cooperative. Several told the P-I that returning tainted honey to the marketplace is wrong. They said the issue has been raised in recent years, but the company has refused to change its policy.
Bill Allibone, Sue Bee's president, said the company has no intention of telling government regulators about the bad honey it finds.
"We deal with a core group of suppliers that have long, established ties in the import business, and we're assuming that when we reject a load of honey, they'll return it to the people they purchased it from."
Allibone said he has no idea whether the tainted honey is resold to other U.S. packers. Asked whether the company had an obligation to take action to protect the public health, the president repeated: "It's just not our honey."
"Truck drivers tell us about bringing full semi loads of foreign honey across the border to packers in our state and Oregon. That honey didn't come from Canadian bees, but it's sold with a label saying 'from U.S. and Canadian honey.' "
So 40% of Sue Bee honey is imported? Oh, yeah, this association is really helping the American BeeKeeper, aren't they.
____________________
____________________
Seattle P_I Investigates Honey Laundering
Two-thirds of the honey Americans consume is imported and almost half of that, regardless of whats on the label, comes from China, the Seattle P-I reported last month.The newspapers five-month investigation into honey laundering the intentional mislabeling of the country of origin found that tons of Chinese honey coming into the U.S. is tainted with banned antibiotics.
But when the contamination is discovered by the industry through internal testing, insiders say, federal health or customs officials are almost never notified, and the honey ends up being dumped back on the market.Testimony from federal investigators and informants offer a glimpse into a typical deal: Wolff (a German import/export house) sold Chinese honey to a U.S. honey producer. The packer tested the shipment and found traces of antibiotics. Wolff took the honey back and resold it to another packer who didnt test for contaminants.
If convicted, the Wolff executives face up to five years in prison for conspiring to falsify country of origin on the Chinese shipments.
In its series, the P-I reported that it had received shipping papers showing that Chinese honey, falsely labeled as a product of India, was sold to several U.S. honey packers, including one of the nations largest Sue Bee Honey Association.Excuse me Sue Bee? Were talking Mom and Apple Pie here their queen shaped jars are on every grocers shelves in America. Sue Bee is buying up Chinese honey falsely labeled as to origin? Now, why would Chinese producers want people to think that their honey came from someplace else?
Thank you for the clarification. Perhaps the best motto is... In God We Trust (only).