Jul 13, 2009 4:45 pm US/Eastern
Florida First To Get Regulatory Laws On Honey
TALLAHASSEE (CBS4) ―
Florida will soon be the first state with laws prohibiting the sale of anything but natural, unadulterated honey unless the label specifically says it's not pure.
Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner Charles Bronson announced Monday that his department is instituting a new set of regulations pertaining to honey. They prohibit additives, chemicals or adulterants in honey produced, processed or sold in Florida, unless clearly stated on the product's label.
"If you're gonna say honey, make it 100 percent bee made honey and that's what people are paying for because there's a lot higher price on honey than honey blends," Bronson said. "We'll be sending our food people out there to check on samples of honey from time to time as we get complaints that there may be someone who thinks that there is a contamination or dilution of honey."
According to agriculture officials, honey is often cut with water or sugar. In other cases, the sticky sweet treat has been contaminated with insecticides or antibiotics. Veterinary antibiotics were found a few years ago in honey imported from China. The drugs were banned in America because they make humans more resistant to antibiotics.
"Honey is a magical food from an insect that comes to us pure right from the beginning," bee keeper Nancy Gentry explained. "Unfortunately… a lot of people decided that they want to make more money from the honey they've got and so they cut it. We have hundreds of millions of barrels of products coming across the US borders that is not honey and yet is being sold that way and it's detrimental, it's killing the US honey producers."
The regulation takes effect July 14 and prohibits honey containing anything other than the "natural food product resulting from the harvest of nectar by honeybees."
Florida is the fourth-leading honey producing state in the country with an economic impact on the state of $40 million a year. It employs more than 500 Floridians. Beekeepers made an estimated $15 million dollars from honey production.
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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