Mkay, I know it's a fly, but it's the best I can do
Drug and heavy metal contamination is sneaking into much of the food we eat via imported honey from the world's biggest producer, China.
Assorted food activists are doing the best they can to ensure that American farmers can't doctor sick cows and other livestock. New York in particular currently has a bill on the table that would take away many of the medicines we use to keep our livestock healthy.
Meanwhile, imported honey is full of contaminants and illegal medications, such as chloramphenicol, which was outlawed decades ago in this country. It is being smuggled and juggled into this country at staggering levels. It is used in all sorts of prepared foods, such as baked goods, and you won't find the country of origin on the label, because it is passed through other countries first..
You have to read this story (even though it is long). I have been writing in recent weeks in the Farm Side about clenbuterol in Chinese pork. That is a real horror story with many Chinese people falling seriously ill from eating the stuff. Here is another story of willful contamination of food, along with a serious threat to our own carefully regulated honey industry. As a big fan of the product I am pretty upset about this.
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9 comments:
Thanks for this, 3C. A couple years ago, I stopped using sugar in my tea and switched to honey.
The current bottle says it's from the USA and Argentina. I wonder what I make of that?
aka, I am going to buy my honey locally from now on. I try to anyhow, usually get it from Rulison's, but I am going to make sure of it now.
Local seems like the only way to go with a lot of stuff. "Know your farmer!" Too bad there are so many things we can't grow in these parts.
The last bottle of honey I bought was really cheap. Now I know why and will throw it out.
I always get my honey from a neighbor,,,,,,,now I know I won't cheap out and buy it in town.
Makes me see red.
Dang it. When you can't even trust the honey . .
I've been reluctant to ask, but are you going to have to comply with some new idiot bill requiring farmers to construct containment areas in case of milk spillage?
Aka, the idea of honey from China being hidden in cereals, baked goods and even medicines is a huge concern to me. It is easy enough to get great honey from local beekeepers, but how do you protect the rest of your food?
Jan, we are so lucky here, in that there is a large, but truly local beekeeper just a few miles away. And now my brother has taken up beekeeping too.
Linda, same here. I checked all our honey and the only non-local jars that we have come from mom and pop orange groves in Florida
Cathy, it bothers me too. How can we strangle American business with red tape and regulation, then turn a blind eye to such egregious violations of even the most basic food safety? This is a huge problem, yet almost no one pays any attention to it.
As to the containment law, I don't know. I will have to check. Thanks
Thomas Sowell's take on it:
http://washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/2011/02/epa-now-regulate-spilled-milk-really
Cathy, thanks. I read that and now I am really puzzled. the EPA threatened this a while ago and then backed down on it...and rightly. It appears that the new activist blood there wants to get some more blood from farmers. What a stupid, stupid rule! We have had several big milk spills from milk tankers around here over the years. No matter how much milk was dumped NO harm was done.
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