Supermarket honey price ridiculously low - why?

[Newbeeneil]

Really has there been an influx since we left or drop in existing standards.? Does not some Chinese honey come in as a blend of EU and non EU honeys. So we could assume rightly it’s already in the EU.

This isn't related to Brexit. Our testing has been bad for many years I understand.

 

[Ian123]

How are our standards or testing of honey different to other countries EU or not. I would have thought we had the same regs as the EU at least.

 

[madasafish]

This isn't related to Brexit. Our testing has been bad for many years I understand.

Regulations are one thing.
Inspections are totally different..

 

[Newbeeneil]

A comparison between U.K. Testing and Belgium testing is shown at 10.45 in the video in post #14. Which accounts for the very low cost of honey in the U.K.

 

[Parsonage Bees]

The EU buying in chinese honey at 1.6 euro/kg is still only 62p/lb. Honey that can pass the better testing used. Even applying these new tests won't solve the problem.

Later in the video states that even a 1% concentration of foreign sugar can be detected. I can imagine beekeepers being caught out by one hive robbing stores from a brood nest and putting it in supers. But we are a long way from ANY sort of regulation.

 

[Ian123]

I may be mistaken but was it on this site Goran that suggested some Chinese honey finds it’s way into some EU countries then filtered out.

 

[KittyB]

The Chinese are flooding the world with fake honey which is putting many local honey producers in countries like Mexico out of business. Almost every jar of supermarket honey will be a mix of EU and non-EU 'honey', and as soon as you see non-EU that invariably means China.
China exports more fake honey to the UK than any other country. It's a licence to print money.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Almost every jar of supermarket honey will be a mix of EU and non-EU 'honey'

Not any more

 

[cwinte]

We could try some sort of awareness campaign for the public and also ask them not to buy that stuff if they want to support keeping and services of bees. Also writing to customer services of vendors? The Co-op had the cheap mix at £1 per jar yet have an "ethical" position...

 

[PeaBee]

I attended a webinar yesterday aimed at trading standards and env health officer titled "the global honey supply chain". The speakers were the Food Compositional standards team leader at Defra and the purchasing director for Valeo Foods ( who own rowse honey brand). It was quite clear from the Q&A that officers are frustrated at the resources available to the to investigate, detect and address adulterated honey. The supply chain from China is so murky. Starts with Nomadic peasant beekeepers who operate out of temporary camps. They typically operate around 100 colonies and extract unripe honey/ nectar from. Which is sold to brokers who the "dry " it and turn it into honey. It ends up with exporters who blend it into 20 ton loads (how many barrels fit in a containers) samples of the load are then sent to purchasers before shipping and then possibly further blending before bottling.
So many points for adulteration to happen and very few physical checks.
The extraction of the unripe honey (due to lack of equipment) in tented camps and the subsequent drying raises the question about even unadulterated if it meets the definition for honey as it's way over the water content at extraction and is more factory processed than bee processed. Wonder what the peasant farmer gets per pound?

 

[Firefly]

I attended a webinar yesterday aimed at trading standards and env health officer titled "the global honey supply chain". The speakers were the Food Compositional standards team leader at Defra and the purchasing director for Valeo Foods ( who own rowse honey brand). It was quite clear from the Q&A that officers are frustrated at the resources available to the to investigate, detect and address adulterated honey. The supply chain from China is so murky. Starts with Nomadic peasant beekeepers who operate out of temporary camps. They typically operate around 100 colonies and extract unripe honey/ nectar from. Which is sold to brokers who the "dry " it and turn it into honey. It ends up with exporters who blend it into 20 ton loads (how many barrels fit in a containers) samples of the load are then sent to purchasers before shipping and then possibly further blending before bottling.
So many points for adulteration to happen and very few physical checks.
The extraction of the unripe honey (due to lack of equipment) in tented camps and the subsequent drying raises the question about even unadulterated if it meets the definition for honey as it's way over the water content at extraction and is more factory processed than bee processed. Wonder what the peasant farmer gets per pound?

Fascinating. What is the "drying" process, or was that not fully explained? I assume high pressure filtration is also happening at some point in the chain, possibly at high temperature?

 

[Erichalfbee]

I attended a webinar yesterday aimed at trading standards and env health officer titled "the global honey supply chain".

Now that I would have liked to see. We read about the shenanigans suppliers get up to.

 

[PeaBee]

Filtration happened with the liquid nectar I think prior to drying. The process was not explained in massive detail. But the photo showed trays in a cabinet about the size of an iso container, which I think was a vacuum dryer and silo looking spray dryers. If you Google honey dryer China there are some photos of similar. Just thinking of the energy used to turn the nectar to honey in a factory must be massive

 

[PeaBee]

Now that I would have liked to see. We read about the shenanigans suppliers get up to.

I did consider trying to screen shot it to share either here or at the bka but thought as I was there with work and did not have the organisers permission thought I best not. There was definitely a representative from the Scottish Bka there so maybe they or if a bbka rep was there they might be able to get a copy and share it.
If you want I could message you the emails of the organisers want they might be happy to send you the recording.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Thanks
I had a look around
I see there is a recording available here soon
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/...Md0rQPrPCW6wzpxAFB2itEZcyLx2Tosfywoa-Nv2-ziv0

 

[PeaBee]

That makes it easy then

 

[pargyle]

Thanks
I had a look around
I see there is a recording available here soon
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/...Md0rQPrPCW6wzpxAFB2itEZcyLx2Tosfywoa-Nv2-ziv0

I've attended similar events in the past (not bee related I would add) and inevitably they spend a lot of time outlining the problem and rarely present any tangible solutions - often promoted/supported by organisations that have (quietly) a vested commercial interest in maintaining the status quo. I wll be interested to see if this webinar was any different.

The interests of UK beekeepers (small and commercial) rarely seem to be served by any Government initiatives. The fact that there can be little hive to jar tracing with the current world honey market polluted by fake honey that, via various intermediaries, gets in to the food chain at very low cost is a serious concern to beekeepers and permits the 'blend of EU and Non-EU' labelling to cover a multitude of sins.

There is not the incentive or funds for Government to spend money on large scale honey testing when there appears to be no consumer led concerns. It's not like the Tesco horse meat scandal where the UK public were pretty horrified at the pollution in the supply chain that led to them unknowingly eating horse meat.

There should be a honey classification for single source honey - be that location based within a defined geography or linked to a specific beekeeper. The honey labelling regs should be amended to include the source of the honey to be more prominent than it is at present and the tag 'a blend of EU & non-EU' honey should be made more specific.

Does any of this affect the hobby beekeeper - probably not - most of us can sell all the real honey that our bees produce and have discerning customers that understand the difference in price and quality of the honey they are buying - does that make it right ? Probably not ...

 

[victor meldrew]

My customers start asking for my honey at £7 a Lb about April .
My customers use supermarkets but have more nous than actually buy it !

 

[ericbeaumont]

the tag 'a blend of EU & non-EU' honey should be made more specific

There are moves by the EU to do just that:

The push for "detailed and unambiguous" labeling of honey mixtures was spearheaded by France, Portugal and especially by Slovenia, a land of amateur beekeepers, which has used its presidency of the Council of the EU to push the issue up the agenda. .

Slovenia’s Agriculture Minister Jože Podgoršek said during a press conference at the meeting that EU Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski had "recognized the need to amend the rules on labeling. The same goes for member states — a large majority of them voiced their support.” Podgoršek added that the Commission indicatd plans to prepare a revised draft directive on honey.

Slovenia wants the countries of origin in honey blends to be individually named on labels.

In 2015 the EU also chose honey as the subject of a control plan, an investigation into the extent of fraud and the effectiveness of tests which might authenticate honey (chosen because it is in the top ten of risk foods). The report concluded that 14% of EU honey was diluted.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

There should be a honey classification for single source honey - be that location based within a defined geography or linked to a specific beekeeper. The honey labelling regs should be amended to include the source of the honey to be more prominent than it is at present and the tag 'a blend of EU & non-EU' honey should be made more specific.

There are moves by the EU to do just that:

The push for "detailed and unambiguous" labeling of honey mixtures was spearheaded by France, Portugal and especially by Slovenia, a land of amateur beekeepers, which has used its presidency of the Council of the EU to push the issue up the agenda. .

Slovenia’s Agriculture Minister Jože Podgoršek said during a press conference at the meeting that EU Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski had "recognized the need to amend the rules on labeling. The same goes for member states — a large majority of them voiced their support.” Podgoršek added that the Commission indicatd plans to prepare a revised draft directive on honey.

Slovenia wants the countries of origin in honey blends to be individually named on labels.

In 2015 the EU also chose honey as the subject of a control plan, an investigation into the extent of fraud and the effectiveness of tests which might authenticate honey (chosen because it is in the top ten of risk foods). The report concluded that 14% of EU honey was diluted.

In case you didn't notice, we're no longer in the EU, so rather irrelevant really what is produced in the EU now comes under 'other countries' in GB labelling regulations.