Patrick wrote: ↑25 Nov 2019, 10:50
I share the discomfort of using non defined terms in food marketting. Food is already awash with hype and nonsense terms.
My honey is only warmed to revert back from naturally granulated because my consumers prefer runny honey and filtered enough to remove bee parts, wax capping shreds etc. It is certainly not heated to pasteurisation levels.
Patrick, my honey is exactly as yours.
I think there's at least two elements to this:
1. Raw honey is not a defined term and therefore it should not appear on the jar label as "Raw Honey" or it is not compliant with the Honey Regs.
However, I see no harm in adding a small card leaflet that explains exactly how my honey has been stored and treated and describing it as raw honey (as much "raw" as any other honey sold by others under that term). As honey is being labelled and sold as Raw Honey, and no one has stopped it, and there is a market for it, then you may think its a nonsense term but it is one we have to compete against.
2. The BBKA is very proud of the exacting standards required of submissions to association honey shows (clarity and all that) but the average customer at my stall seems suspicious of the price tag attached to such beautiful honey when they can buy crystal clear honey in the supermarket for far less. Furthermore, they are grateful to know that the honey is unadulterated, not over filtered or over-heated and tastes good and because of that the accept the price tag of £5 - £6 a lb. The very qualities that the BBKA honey judges hold dearest seems to be lost on the average person in the street.
I certainly would not want to see honey contaminated with bits of bee, cappings etc excused as "Raw Honey" that then under-mines the reputation of British beekeepers' honey. If someone does try that they will correctly fall foul of the Honey Regs - and trading standards officers (if you can find one!).
ADDENDUM!!!
Daily Mail reports today: Tesco's own brand honey is under investigation after tests suggested it has been bulked out with cheap syrups. The National Food Crime Unit has reportedly launched a probe into the supermarket giant's own-brand version of the sugary snack.
I think that report rather underlines my point. I think we are going to have to find ways of differentiating our local honey from what is being sold by Supermarkets for far less money. No wonder the French are looking into DNA testing honey coming into France. Of course I am sure Tesco will be exonerated from knowingly selling adulterated honey but the damage has and is being done on a regular basis.