Imported honey

[MickBBKA]

Today I see Tesco are selling 340g bottles of honey for £1.25.
Just plain stupid.

[NigelP]

Was reading a report from the latest apimondia conference. There was a lot about honey fraud and adulteration. One interesting fact emerged was that many countries pure honey is priced higher than the UK market is willing to pay for bulk honey, so they sell elsewhere. We seem to have got used to cheap adulterated Chinese honey.
It's a total disgrace that Tesco can sell at this price, current wholesale price for UK honey (in a bucket) is around £3.50 lb. This is before it is jarred and labelled and then sold on further down the chain.
This cheap under-pricing by supermarkets is forcing us to keep our prices artificially low.

Americans have the right idea, to protect their own beekeepers and allow them to compete price ways against imported honey they have an "anti dumping levy" which is tax applied to all imported honey, their imports have dropped significantly.

[AdamD]

"Product of the EU and non EU countries" which is what we often see on the jars means that the honey could actually be anything from anywhere. We know that Chinese "honey" is passed through other countries to desguise the source of the stuff.
Tesco and the other supermarkets will know (but probably turn a blide eye) that the stuff they put in jars at that price will almost certainly contain non-honey. It should be called something else.

[cactusmike]

And the cheap blended honey bears no comparison to the best Pure Norfolk Honey. It may be of interest to the forum that some years ago a large quantity of honey labelled Norfolk Honey was becoming available in shops around the county of Norfolk. However Norfolk Beekeepers Assocn could not find the apiary. The then Chair/President of Norfolk Beekeepers obtained a jar and examined the pollen in the honey. He found pollen grains for plants which did not grow in Norfolk but in China. The Food Agency (?) were notified and an inspector visited many shops selling this illegally labelled honey and confiscated it which upset local village shop owners as they lost their stock and their money.

[NigelP]

Less of the EU these days, most I see say non EU only

[AdamD]

And the cheap blended honey bears no comparison to the best Pure Norfolk Honey. It may be of interest to the forum that some years ago a large quantity of honey labelled Norfolk Honey was becoming available in shops around the county of Norfolk. However Norfolk Beekeepers Assocn could not find the apiary. The then Chair/President of Norfolk Beekeepers obtained a jar and examined the pollen in the honey. He found pollen grains for plants which did not grow in Norfolk but in China. The Food Agency (?) were notified and an inspector visited many shops selling this illegally labelled honey and confiscated it which upset local village shop owners as they lost their stock and their money.

cactusmike, I guess that must have been Paul Metcalf as president of NBKA and involved with NBKA forever?

If you search for Fake Norfolk Honey, The East Anglian Daily Times still has the article on it's website. An £8000 fine and £90,000 in costs. What fine would the big supermarkets pay if they knowingly sold fake honey?

I can assure everyone that my honey comes just from Norfolk - oh and a bit from Suffolk if the bees fly over the edge.

[cactusmike]

Yes it was Paul I couldnt remember his name but I believe he was an expert with a microscope. Very excellent lecturer at the agricultural college too on beekeeping. Yes the fines were very heavy I do remember that.

[AdamD]

Peter Sunderland runs the Iceni Microscopy Group in Norfolk - I don't know if he was involved at the time as well.

[Spike]

Tesco and the other supermarkets will know (but probably turn a blide eye) that the stuff they put in jars at that price will almost certainly contain non-honey. It should be called something else.

Vegan Honey?

[MickBBKA]

Its usually called 'vegan hunny' or something similar. It can't be called 'vegan honey' ever. If you see it, report it to trading standards.