Allergies Honey and Peanut Butter

There was some interesting reading in my email today. It started with the peanut butter recall and a condemnation of the health inspectors and went on to honey.

We all know to eat local honey. It helps with allergies. I have been using local honey for years but will buy honey on trips from local road side vendors. I love the different tastes.

Now is appears that a big percentage of the honey you buy at the grocery store has been imported from China and relabeled so that information is not available.

"According to a five-month Seattle P-I investigation, more than 60 percent of honey consumed in the U.S. is imported. And about half of the imported honey comes from China. And a large portion of that Chinese honey is mislabeled to give consumers the impression that the honey is produced anywhere but China.

This practice is called "honey laundering." And besides being deceptive, it can be dangerous because Chinese honey sometimes contains chloramphenicol, an illegal antibiotic with harsh side effects – especially for those who have a sensitivity to the drug.

An executive for Sue Bee (one of the largest honey packers in the U.S.) told the Seattle P-I that chloramphenicol is detected in honey about once a month. When found, it's sent back to the importer. Bill Allibone, president of Sue Bee, explains that the FDA isn't informed because the company never actually takes ownership of the honey

But here's the heart of the problem: When chloramphenicol contamination is discovered, honey producers usually send it back to the importer. The FDA is rarely contacted, so unscrupulous importers are free to simply ship the honey to a different producer, hoping the antibiotic won't be detected the second time around." www.hsibaltimore.com

Isn't it sad. Most of us will not buy anything imported from China as a great deal of those imports turn out to be poison. Now our government is allowing US distributors to mislabel these products so we won't know they are from China. Just who's side is our government on?

Talking about allergies -- yesterday I got up feeling bright eyed and ready to go. Just after the sun came up my nose started to run -not drip- run. Within an hour I was miserable. Last night my nose slowed down and I slept pretty well. I'm wondering if something that opens in sunshine and closes at dark is the culprit. Today I have a headache but no running nose - no sun, total cloud cover.

until next time - smile and choose your honey wisely

Sharon
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