"Honey laundering"
 

Things like these make me want to:
(1) buy a farmhouse with acreage in northern Vermont
(2) lobby for a 200% tariff on all Chinese products until that country cleans up its act

http://www.grist.org/food-safety/2011-08-18-honey-laundering-tainted-counterfeit-from-china-in-US

Got to love that the Repubs, Tea Party, and friends want to reduce gov't regulation -- bet they like their honey with a bit of poison on the side.

I think it's just generally a bad idea to buy anything from China that's intended to wind up in your body. Come to think of it it's a bad idea to buy anything from China anyway, but with some things it seems like there's no alternative.

They are using the familiar honey bear container and selling for a buck 99. People just snap them up without reading the labels.

They're defiling the HONEY BEAR

them's fightin' words

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It's not a lack of regulation that is causing the problem, it's a lack of competence and integrity of the regulators. I'm sure if we give them more money though everything will magically be cured and the Repubs/ Tea Party will have to come up with an alternate diabolical plan to poison the people so they can't vote for obama. Be wary of that tinfoil you make your hat out of too- it probably came from China:rolleyes:

It's important to buy local honey; 50 mile radius from the place where you live and work. It builds up your immune system against local seasonal allergies.

x2

Folks say it helps with allergies. I've not noticed this but it is common folk-knowledge.

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All true. I also understand it can help with immunity to poison oak if you have it in your area.

Buy that farm, only be careful about Vermont. Make sure you're upstream and upwind from Vermont Yankee Power Plant. It's been the dirtiest plant in the country for years, leaking Tritium like a sieve.
With the exception of cereal and pet food, we don't buy processed foods. Never have. Even U.S. manufactured foods can have ingredients made in China. Labels are not required to indicate country of origin for their ingredients. As the article sums up and I've said over and over:
When I wrote about this two years ago, I said, "This story is really about a food system that's diffuse, international, and impossible to regulate -- in other words, broken." It's still all too true.

Thanks for this link, I had not heard this story.

The food industry as a whole is just as bad as this. China products are no exception.

I haven't posted on this subject in a long time but the basic rule is that food grows naturally from the earth, it does not come from a factory and it does not need help to grow from factory made products. If it is processed in a factory before you buy it, don't eat it.

If there are any ingredients in the food that someone around the world couldn't grow in thier own backyard, don't eat it.

If the shipping and handling costs exceeds the food cost, don't eat it. If you see advertising for it or it comes in colorful packaging, don't eat it. If you heard claims of health benefits, don't eat it. If it has a nutritional label, don't eat it. If you can buy it in a convenience store or a fast food joint, don't eat it.

Processed fats, preserved meats, added sweeteners, anything with flour, alcohol, caffeine, nicotine, MSG or its precursers - more harm than good.

If your waistline is anywhere near 38 inches or larger than when you were 23 or so years old, you are too fat. If you fart, burp, belch, have heartburn, regurgitate, or don't sleep well you are eating wrong and probably too much.

For $20 at Walmart you can buy a blood glucose tester. Your glucose should pretty well flatline. If your body is producing insulin to lower blood sugar you are gaining weight. You cannot loose weight if your body is storing fat, that is what insulin is for.

I'm posting this in its own thread also.