You might already know that honey carries with it a number of health benefits, from its antioxidant content to its antibacterial properties! It’s also been documented as a helpful digestive aid for gastrointestinal issues as well as being a delicious way to soothe a sore throat or a mild cough. Honey is, generally speaking, beneficial for the average person.
What you might not know is that honey is the third most common food sold fraudulently in the global market. Honey is adulterated in a variety of different ways ranging from water and corn syrup being carefully added to dilute the real honey, to honey heated for ease of packaging and filtration being marketed as raw. Some experts have estimated that around 30% of the honey in the global market is adulterated with the percentage more than double that number in the US.
This issue, while perhaps not immediately dangerous to the consumer’s health, does affect us all as first, we will not gain the health benefits we might be using honey for and second, it might just crash our economy. That second part might sound a bit dramatic but honey bees carry the burden of pollination for most of our agriculture crops. Our crops not only feed this country but are still the bulwark of our international trade. Together, the domestic and international agricultural market make up a significant portion of America's economy. Right now, by committing food fraud, merchants are undercutting the sales of beekeepers, who are in turn having to diversify their merchantable services to stay afloat. Add to this phenomenon the loss of many of our honeybees to mites, parasites, blight, MURDER HORNETS, and you have a true crisis on your hands. A lot of beekeepers report losing nearly half their hives in the last few years.
As a consumer, you can help by supporting beekeepers directly and buying local! This may be one of the most important times to do so! Buy local and if you can’t buy local, buy clean! Have your favorite brand of honey tested and find a company that cares about protecting their supply chain! As you may learn if you continue on to the additional reading linked below, it isn’t enough to pay a lot for a fancy bottle of honey. Sometimes they are the very culprit you are trying to avoid!