From what seems like a plot device for an episode of CSI, the website “Food Safety Network” has an article this week warning about the honey we may be buying.

Honey in familiar consumer containers, imagae courtesy of Wikipedia

The FSN reports that their research shows that most of the honey in U.S. stores are not really honey.  This is due to the lack of pollen in the honey, which is used to detect where the honey came from.  Knowing the origin is important since it determines whether or not the honey comes from a safe source.

According to the Food and Drug Administration, pollen can be removed by a process called “ultra-filtration”.  This procedure is claimed to be used to mask the origins of honey that are made in unsafe regions where contaminants such as antibiotics and heavy metals can find their way into honey.  Suspected culprits in the FSN report include China and India who at one point were pushing cheap honey into the U.S. market before getting hit by trade tariffs.

Ultra-filtered “honey” is also not considered to be honey by the FDA.

The FSN provide the following listing to help identify the honey they tested to have no pollen.

Honey Without Pollen list, image courtesy of the Food Safety Network.

The article also makes a distinguishing difference between regular filtration and ultra-filtration.  While ultra-filtration removes the trackable pollen from honey, all regular filtration do is remove the debris from hives, bee wax, and other visible contaminants.

The FSN article recommends purchasing honey from your local beekeepers or any of the safe brands that do not filter pollen.  You can read more of the FSN article by clicking here.