Organic Honey ?

[Grif]

I'm a bit mystified by the claim on some honey jar labels as being "organic". I went to the Rowse website and they say that their own organic honey "is from organic agriculture and certified by the Soil Association". I presume from this that they mean that the hives are situated on farms that have the soil association "organic" designation, but due to the distances bees forage over - how can they be sure that all the nectar sources are "organic"?

 

[charlievictorbravo]

I'm given to understand that it's nearly impossible to get organic honey from UK nectar because there are no areas that are within flying range of bees (i.e. 10km diameter) that are free of herbicides and pesticides.

Honey can be imported as organic but it must meet some equivalence standards. Look at https://www.soilassociation.org/media/7207/food-and-drink-v17-5-august-2016.pdf at around pages 28 and 29. The process of being declared organic looks to be complicated but in 2nd and 3rd world countries with less industrialised agriculture, it may be easier than in the UK.

Is the honey you saw produced in the UK or in the EU or non-EU?

CVB

 

[alfazer]

I heard that most of it comes from South America, Brazil in particular. There's vast areas of forage nowhere near modern agriculture. In fact, probably far from any civilised society.

 

[AndyTh]

Heather honey in the UK is pretty much organic: no pesticides used on the heather moors, surely?

 

[Hivemaker.]

Heather honey in the UK is pretty much organic: no pesticides used on the heather moors, surely?

Yes, sometimes even the heather gets sprayed, they often use helicopters to do the spraying.

 

[Mart_got_hives]

There's tonnes of honey being sold on eBay as Organic despite having no certification. Doesn't matter where it's imported from it still needs Organic certification to be sold as Organic in the UK, however Trading Standards don't seem interested in doing anything about it. If you look at the sales numbers from some of these dodgy honey sellers they're committing fraud on a huge scale.

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[Eyeman]

There's tonnes of honey being sold on eBay as Organic despite having no certification. Doesn't matter where it's imported from it still needs Organic certification to be sold as Organic in the UK, however Trading Standards don't seem interested in doing anything about it. If you look at the sales numbers from some of these dodgy honey sellers they're committing fraud on a huge scale.

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It also found staffing levels of trading standards teams have fallen by 53% since 2009

Can't enforce the standards if no one's there! Like most departments such as the police and NHS they have had to rationalise and prioritise their service. Suspect honey isn't high on their list despite the fact it's the 3rd most requently adulterated food product.

 

[charlievictorbravo]

This thread reminds me of a scene from the Life of Brian

Splitter!

CVB

 

[charlievictorbravo]

Sorry, guys, the above post should have gone on the bee breeding groups thread. Don't know how it ended up here.

CVB

 

[For want of a better word]

Sorry, guys, the above post should have gone on the bee breeding groups thread. Don't know how it ended up here.

CVB

For the same reason I could not recover my password for " icanhopit "... someone is cyberhacking and has stolen my identity?

 

[enrico]

For the same reason I could not recover my password for " icanhopit "... someone is cyberhacking and has stolen my identity?

I thought the avatar looked familiar.......cheers icanhopit!
E

 

[chrisb]

There's tonnes of honey being sold on eBay as Organic despite having no certification. Doesn't matter where it's imported from it still needs Organic certification to be sold as Organic in the UK, however Trading Standards don't seem interested in doing anything about it. If you look at the sales numbers from some of these dodgy honey sellers they're committing fraud on a huge scale.

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some are doing the same for bees wax, stating British and bringing in from China
Please note I used the term "some "

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

someone is cyberhacking and has stolen my identity?

Someone out there wants it!

 

[Hebeegeebee]

So if you can't guarantee that organic honey can be supplied from the UK (apart from very small areas maybe) then organic honey must be from overseas. How do we know that it's organic though?

Consider the lillies.