On organic honey

On organic honey

05 Mar 2008

Got questions about the environment? Ask Umbra.

Dear Umbra,

I was looking for a nice, local, organic honey to use in reworking some recipes so that they didn't use sugar. So I headed to Whole Foods, and was stuck looking at a honey in a plastic container labeled organic from Brazil, and a local product in a glass container but not labeled organic. And I started wondering -- what makes honey organic? I mean, bees fly. How do you know what plants they ate or pollinated unless you've caged them somehow. And that led right to the free-range bee question ... Help! It's too much for my brain. Which honey do I buy?

Liz
Bellevue, Wash.

Dearest Liz,

Bees do indeed freely fly in and out of their hives and are hence inherently free range. As far as I know we do not need to worry about bee imprisonment. I pity the underpaid worker who would go into the bee prison colony to face irate inmates. I also pity the reader who might be subjected to endless bee puns, so I will resist the temptation.

Organic honey: an old hives' tale?

Photo: iStockphoto

At this point in the history of food, a product cannot make an organic claim unless it has been certified or the producer earns less than $5,000 a year. When an item has been approved by a certifying agency, we can be sure that certain conditions have been met. The beekeeper treated the hives, bees, illnesses, honey harvest, and flower offerings in a way specified by the certifying agency. Organic does not have the non-specific meaning of natural, pesticide-free, everybody frolicking in the fields, shoppers imagining for themselves whatever purity it indicates. When we look at the honey label, we should be able to see what certifying body OK'd the honey as organically produced, and learn exactly what standards were met for this approval to be offered. In what specific kinds of fields did the bees frolic? The answer should be ours for the asking.

What might the standards be for bees? It depends on the certifying body; here in the U.S., the National Organic Program oversees everything, but we are increasingly finding international organic foods such as your Brazilian honey. Foreign certifiers must meet USDA approval, which means their regulations at least equal if not exceed the USDA standard. Factors might include: Hives made of natural materials, painted with non-lead paint. When honey is harvested, enough food must be left for the bees. The beekeeper can't just kill the colony after he or she has gotten the honey. A long list of prohibited materials must be avoided; these might be used for disease control, for stopping other insects, or as ingredients in the bee-calming "smoker" (a sort of bellows of beekeeping). Post-harvest handling is important, as well. Some standards won't allow heating beyond a certain point, or high-pressure honey filtration.

Ask Umbra continues below

ADVERTISING POLICY

Rules about what the bees can eat vary among certifiers, and some indeed prohibit bee access to not only chemical agriculture but also cities and industrial areas. You can imagine the difficulty this presents for would-be organic honey producers.

So, back to your question of what you should buy. If a product is not organically certified, it does not necessarily follow that the product is inundated with chemicals and cruel to bees. The producer may have decided that certification was not worth the effort and fees. Also, I don't think we know much about bees pollinating conventional crops and how pesticides might affect the resultant honey. With colony collapse disorder looming, there are many theories and concerns about threats to the honeybee population, including mites and pesticides. What is happening to honey is less of a worry than what is happening to our pollinators themselves. In fact, it's rather unique that consumers are becoming concerned about bee animal welfare before they become concerned about any contamination problems with their honey.

More email alerts | Privacy

You may know that I generally lean toward local over organic when those are the only two choices. I like to support small businesses and small agriculture -- not because it's necessarily environmentally better in a quantified way, but because the quality of my local landscapes is supported by local producers. In some cases I think it's fair to assume that small producers are not too far from organic: small growers won't have the cash or the need to do tons of spraying, nor the cash or need to get certified. In this instance you need to think about what you want from organic honey, and whether you might just get those same things from local honey. If the label seemed legitimately local and small-scale, I would probably go with local, myself. Just my tendency.

I can't believe I made it through this entire answer without a single pun.

Buzzily,
Umbra

Yours is to wonder why, hers is to answer (or try). Please send Umbra any nagging question pertaining to the environment -- but first check out her FAQs!

The claims made in this column may not reflect the views of this magazine. Neither the magazine nor the author guarantees that any advice contained in this column is wise or safe. Please use this column at your own risk.

Umbra Fisk is Grist Research Associate II, Hardcover and Periodicals Unit, floors 2B-4B.

Comments: (19 comments)

You are not logged in. Thus, you cannot post a comment. If you have a Gristmill account, log in below. If you don't have a Gristmill account, well, by all means go make one! Meet you back here in five.

Also...

If the honey is local, you could always contact them to ask questions about their methods.

As Umbra points out, a lot of smaller farmers, etc. don't do organic certification, either because it's too costly or because they feel that the certification doesn't live up to their own standards (or both).

by demolitionwoman at 10:48 AM on 05 Mar 2008

Agave

Or you could try agave nectar--it's amazing stuff, which I think you can get organic.

Farmers markets sometimes have locally produced bee vomit--Oops--I meant honey.

by eram at 11:30 AM on 05 Mar 2008

a related point

Umbra's discussion reminded me of a wonderful 1970s drive-in era movie, Invasion of the Bee Girls. It's about these bee-women who come to Earth...

by davedenali at 1:52 PM on 05 Mar 2008

Bees do indeed freely fly...

...but only about a mile from the hive. That's how you know what they're eating and gathering. Otherwise, how could you get clover, orange blossom, wildflower...

by gwood at 2:34 PM on 05 Mar 2008

other shopping options

You could also check one of several Seattle Natural Food Co-op Grocers:

Puget Consumers Co-op Seattle, WA (they have stores in Issaquah, Kirkland and Redmond and several in Seattle)

Madison Market/Central Co-op Seattle, WA (in the Capitol Hill area)

These Co-ops are quite likely to have honey from small producers and even know whether the beekeeper doesn't use pesticides. Given the climate in Bellevue (just east of Seattle?), I'd be pretty surprised if there are any commercial honey producers who are really nearby honey producers but one shouldn't have to go too many miles east to find local honey.

Also, any local farmers markets? Sometimes you can find local beekeepers selling in person.

Barbara

Barbara

by BMendenhall at 6:25 PM on 05 Mar 2008

go local - but ask first

I happen to bee one of those local, small-time beekeepers who is not certified (organically that is). Here in Montana to pass organic certification I would need to locate my bee hive at least 3 miles from any pesticides, herbicides, or industrial waste. That alone is about impossible. The rest: processing organically, using wood and paint that meets standards, etc. is not difficult. The other criteria: not medicating the bees with antibiotics and other prohibited materials is not impossible but does require more work from the beekeeper. Some use traps to control the mites, for example. This is a fairly "new" idea among beekeepers and alot of the older "traditional" beekeepers refuse to do it. (Kinda like not worming your cattle).

I recommend getting in touch with your local beekeeper and quizzing him or her on the methods they use. The primary source, in my opinion, for tainting honey is the medications. As for the flowers they visit, I'm not sure how much contaminant can make it back to the hive (either it kills the bee or the bee doesn't touch it - we can only hope).

From a health standpoint I would argue that "raw" and "local" honey is maybe better than "organic". Eating local honey allows you to ingest small portions of the flora in your area - thus aiding in allergy resistance (I'm told) and being raw means the honey hasn't been heated or filtered - thus retaining the live enzymes and other nutrients which studies show to be very healthful.

I'm all for organic, but I'm afraid that until we clean up our farms, gardens, and really the total environment, local honey will not really bee 100% organic - kinda like our air and water.

By the way, the state apiarist (bee expert) told me they have tracked bees up to 10 miles from the hive in search of nectar! The bee will go as far as is necessary. Usually, the honey that claims to be monocrop - clover, alfalfa, tupelo, etc. - is that because that plant is prevalent enough that the hive doesn't need to search further.

Why not get your own hive! It isn't that difficult and for about $300 you can collect about 10 gallons/year. I highly recommend asking advice from a beekeeper or beekeeping organization (some are online with pictures). Bees can be kept on the roof of a skyscraper! And we need more beekeepers!

Go local and bee healthy!

by brettsbusybees at 6:39 PM on 05 Mar 2008

go local, but ask first

Thanks loads, brett, for the informative and encouraging comment about buying honey. This is exactly what I was inclined to do, but didn't know if there was something else I should be considering. And I didn't know before this what difference raw honey meant.

I'm not sure I could actually use 10 gallons of honey a year, but the idea of beekeeping is kind of tempting.

Liz in Bellevue...

by LizC at 9:13 PM on 05 Mar 2008

sometimes I need the quick answer!

I love Umbra's column and I'm sure if I knew her personally would love the person too, but sometimes her answers are so long and convoluted that they beg for an executive summary right up front. Sometimes I just need the "cut to the chase" answer, so I can move on to other important things of the day and carry her important and trust worthy advice with me to the super market, or wherever. Then if I want more details, I can return to the column at a later, less hurried time.

Sorry if this constructive criticism offends - certainly not my intent.

Frank from O-Town

by fvanoly at 11:40 AM on 06 Mar 2008

Whole Foods

If you are at Whole Foods (or any other shop) consider finding a sales associate to answer such a question. At Whole Foods, someone usually knows about procurement, and if not, you should insist they get on it. It's part of the WF corporate program.

by TexasDan at 3:42 PM on 06 Mar 2008

"factory farmed"?

Here is the PETA "fact sheet":

http://www.peta.org/mc/factsheet_display.asp?ID=122.

I am not a member of PETA, and do not endorse the "Avoid honey!" extreme of some vegans. But PETA usefully raises important issues.

In general, the issue of how ethically to treat arthropods, including insects and crustaceans, needs to be considered.

I do not think that the term "factory farm" is quite appropriate to refer to a bee hive. For one thing, it overlooks the nature of the social insects. For another, it risks cheapening the truly horrible experiences of factory-farmed vertebrates (e.g. chickens, fish, cattle and pigs).

Nevertheless, it is always good to ask where the products that we consume, of animal origin, actually come from.

Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.

by caniscandida at 1:12 AM on 07 Mar 2008

RAW Organic Bee Honey from Brazil

Dear Readers,
I am owner of www.foresthoney.com, also owner of a honey facility in Brazil. Brazil is the highest producer of Organic Honey because it is one of the few countries in the world with enough wild areas to guarantee the certification of hives. Yes, traces of chemicals at flowers and nectar can and will be identified at honey, in special if RAW... so you might be having RAW pesticides together, and these pesticides might be worse to you than the benefit of local honey to combat alergies. Therefore, make very sure that who is your local honey supplier. Yes, PETA is right concerning the treatment of some commercial beekeepers to their hives. Agave can be used as sweetener, but does not have the same nutritional values as RAW honey. In Brazil bee honey is only produced by bee from FLOWERS NECTAR, which in USA and some countries, they allow to be called honey even if hive has been FEEDED with syrup. Most of flowers are already GMO, so to whom that wish to buy a GMO Free honey, is better look into the label. FDA organic standard 3 miles, Brazilian standards 5 miles range of any civilization. The Brazilian bee is native, (africanized) while USA, Europe and Asia, the bee has already been breaded, and might be one of the facts of the bee disorder. The biggest problem in USA is not honey production, as sweetener you can substitute by any other, but the question is polinization. Regretabely, strong use of pesticides in North America and Europe killed most of the insects (natural polinators), and now farmers relays 100% to bees. Forest Honey supports the www.thehoneybeeproject.com a great NC project of education about bee and bee products. (honey, beecomb, beepollen, propolis, beevenom and royal jelly)Sorry about my english fluency.
Sincerely,
Leonardo Cristaldi

by Leonardo at 2:14 PM on 07 Mar 2008

Whole Foods... Organic Honey

any doubt about organic honey certification, I will be pleased to reply you.
please my comment at UMBRA log.

by Leonardo at 2:52 PM on 07 Mar 2008
[ Parent ]

Brazilian honey

Thank you for this information, Leonardo. I didn't know that your honey was created only from nectar but I think that is best. I had heard that American bees are too often fed corn syrup, which is empty calories and made from GMO corn too. I am worried about losing our pollinators. It is a topic discussed in my sustainable horticulture classes. I hope to have bees one day myself.
And no need to apologise for your English. I'm sure you write and speak it better than 99% of Grist folks speak Portuguese!
Seonaid

by Seonaid at 4:11 PM on 07 Mar 2008
[ Parent ]

On Organic Honey

Actually, the only country in the world that can officially claim to be "organic" is Australia. Their honey farms are hundreds of miles from any form of industry, lawn chemicals, or commercial farming, by law.
Brazil has alot of hoey farming, because it takes up very little space, but there are very few restrictions as to where they have the hives and there is alot of forest clearing going on, tainting the soil and nectars.

by RevTelkal at 4:44 PM on 08 Mar 2008

Contaminated honey from China via Australia

http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2002/NEW00831.html
http://www.beesource.com/news/article/dumping.htm

Dear RevTelkal,
I would cordially invite you to visit both web pages. It is self explanatory about your comment of Australia Honey (Contaminated Chinese Honey cross board via Australia).

"This investigation should serve notice that U.S. Customs will not tolerate unfair trading practices, especially those that pose potential health risks to the American public," said U.S. Customs Commissioner Robert C. Bonner.

Despite it is from 2002, it has changed world perspective about Australian Honey quality and origin certification credibility.

Sincerely,

by Leonardo at 8:16 AM on 09 Mar 2008
[ Parent ]

Cooking honey

Cooking honey is not a good thing to do. It is not a fruit or vegetable. It is not an herb. It is the refined essence of PURE LIFE. Cooking it is like cooking a flower, rendering it to something unusable. The oldest body of knowledge on Earth is Veda. Follow it to the letter. DO a search. Look at www.theraj.com.

by peaceyogi at 7:47 AM on 11 Mar 2008

Cooked honey unhealthy according to Ayurveda

Honey is a wonderful food, but for what it's worth, according to Ayurveda (the ancient Indian science of health) cooked honey is toxic. Raw honey is considered satvic or highly healthful. I live in a community where Ayurveda is taken very seriously and almost no one will cook with it or buy honey that is not labeled raw. We love honey on warm toast and in warm drinks but don't cook with it. It is hard to find reasonably price sweeteners that are cookable. For a long time we used maple syrup, but that has gotten so expensive. There are very few unrefined sugars. Sucanat is now refined, and evaporated cane juice and most organic cane sugars are actually refined. Rapunzel makes a truly unrefined sugar called rapidura, but that is expensive and I haven't seen it in the stores lately. Heavenly Sugar from India claims to be unrefined, but may not be available in your area.

Michael Murphy www.dawnhawk.com

by dawnhawk at 8:34 AM on 11 Mar 2008

Insulting comments from Leonardo

As a long time sustainable beekeeper which is my sole source of income I am insulted by Leonardo's comments.

He implies that somehow USA honey bees make most of their honey from soemthing other then flower nectar.

Let me understand that. Nectar is "free" and abundant with flowering plants, trees and shrubs. A productive colony can produce 200-300 pounds of flower nectar made honey. So he is implying we are BUYING HFCS corn syrup and making honey from that ? !! Come on Leonardo...you know thats not true!!!!

In Brazil honeybees have access all year round to flowers. The European honeybee which is maintained here and in most of the world for pollination and honey production is able to winter over in very cold climates similar to regions where this bee was brought by European immigrants.

If we are headed into winter or in late winter and our bees are short food sometimes corn syrup of sugar water is used as an emergency feed source. At these times of the year the bees are mostly dormat and not able to leave the hive to gather nectar. Should we let them die before it warms up? Any sugar syrup or corn syrup used for feed at that time of the year is long gone by the time the hive triples in population and huge copious amounts of nectar are available as different plants come into bloom on an almost weekly basis in spring and summer.

USDA standards do NOT allow any foriegn sugar sources present in honey to be sold in the USA.

Leonardo distorts this fact and implies all honey is made from corun syrup Bu___t!!

I find his whole posting full of misstatements and hype but I don;t have the energy to refute his blatant BS.

THe problem with organic honey standards within the USDA is there is NO standard written for honey so the generic standard of what organic stands for is what is used in the meanwhile. A more detailed standard has been in the works for many years. So we rely on the numerous certification houses interpretation of he generic standard as to how it applies to honeybees.

In general the concept is to identify the land uses and owners in a 3 mile RADIUS and certify that no chems are used on the land. Obviously this is very hard to do in the USA and why so little certified organic honey is found on our shelves.

Keep in mind that many plants and TREES are wild which the bees visit and are not sprayed. FOr instance here in the upper midwest Basswood trees provide about a 1/3 of our annual honey crop . These native trees grow wild in the forests and are never spray.

Go local and buy raw honey from a local beekeeper. Forget the USDA logo its mostly hype and I wonder if the Brazilian honey is really that organic as Leonardo clearly is twisting his words to benefit his business. I smell a rat!

p.s. Leonardo's honey is on the shelf in whole foods next to mine. I will be forwarding his misinformation to some people I think need to see this - blatant misrepresentation of facts. I hope Leonardo you are not using that schitck to sell your honey to USA distributors. I support beekeepers wordwide and support fair trade. I used to support your product - but I have seen your misrepresentation other places on the web.

GMO flowers yeah right buddy. like the countryside is full of native flowering plants that Monsanto has produced ......for what commercial purpose I might ask?

I'm sorry but that post is soo full of crap it makes me steaming mad!

by Bud Dingler at 4:18 PM on 14 Mar 2008

to Mr. Dingler,

Dear Mr. Dingler,

I am very sorry about your angry, and very sorry about your words. Apologize if my words were misunderstood. I tried to contact you on phone nr that you left at our web, but no success.

We do not sell Forest Honey at your area, so your product can not be side by side with ours.

We support small US and Brazilians backyards and hobbyistics beekeepers, because we (humans) need as many as possible. You are a great beekeeper and have a great experience in the field. (I know you from past comments in other blogs) Congratulations for your blessed skill and work.

Excuse me, but cant go further, I need to come back to work and keep my promisse to the families that Forest Honey work and support.
Please see page 28 of following:

http://www.naturalfoodnet.com/nfnportal/includes/nfn8_nat ...

Many blessings,

by Leonardo at 7:40 PM on 14 Mar 2008

The comments of Grist users reflect the opinions of those individuals only, and do not necessarily reflect the viewpoints of Grist, its staff, its board members, their psychotherapists, or their aestheticians. Got it?

The Bees' Needs