Honey...When local doesn't even mean Made in America

When you buy Honey at the store Local does not mean the honey came from American Bees.

Honey is a unregulated industry so the packagers can put just about anything on the label. The honey packers make a big deal about pure honey. They brag on testing and purity, yes they are selling honey from bees. They might be Asian bees or South American bees but they are definitely NOT American bees.

The honey packers purchase 450,000,000 pounds of honey from outside the U.S for much lower prices than we can produce. Honey from Vietnam sells for $0.63/lb., from India a little higher but still well less than $1.00.

U.S. beekeepers produce about 100,000,000 pounds but much of that is sold at farmers markets.

Souix Bee a co-operative of beekeepers mostly from the North and South Dakota area has trouble paying its members $1.00/lb since the major packers are buying honey for below $1.00/lb from overseas. The packers buy the honey, package it in the U.S. and label it as LOCAL, or Texas, or even S.E. Texas Honey. They sell to the grocers for about $3.00/lb and the grocer sells it for about $6.00/lb.

So when you buy honey at Market Basket, or Walmart, or Kroger and it says Local or says Vidor you were Lied to, it might have been packaged locally but the stuff inside most likely came from Asian bees.

Oh, it’s honey meaning it came from Bees but if you think if’s helping you allergies you’re fooling yourself. If you think it helped local beekeepers you’re wrong.

The largest importer of honey in the U.S. is just West of us on the East side of Houston. Honey Solutions is on the North side of I-10 before you get to Houston. All of the drums or containers of Honey on the site came from a Ship at the port of Houston.

Don’t get fooled find a local beekeeper and buy your Honey from them. Get REAL LOCAL HONEY.

Len VanMarion

TAIS Master Beekeeper

Texas Master Gardener