Honey From China You Say, GMO Canola Too,This Is Sick

March 19, 2014 –Honey – one of the most natural foods. In the supermarket, honey is found labelled as coming from clover, buckwheat, alfalfa or maybe orange blossom. The label might just read ‘honey’ without any indication of its source of nectar. But is the nectar source even important to those of us wishing to become more conscientious eaters? As I’ve discovered, there is a curiosity surrounding honey – a curiosity, which, has rarely, if ever, been spoken… until now!

In Canada, 80% of all the honey produced in the country is from the nectar of canola, and 75-90% of annual production is exported to the United States – yet, nowhere on the grocery store shelves do we ever see honey labelled as “canola honey”. And so the question becomes – just where is all that canola honey ending up?

Certified Master Beekeeper Brian Campbell of Blessed Bee Farm in Richmond, British Columbia has an answer;

“A major crop in Canada is genetically engineered canola. And it’s bee pollinated. And beekeepers take honey off that genetically engineered canola. There is no “genetically engineered canola honey” for sale in Canada. Where the hell does it go? Well, they just re-label or they don’t label it at all. They use it as a blend to equalize flavour in other honey. So you know, if you’re not pro genetically engineered food, then really you shouldn’t be eating the honey off of the store shelves.”

As many of us are becoming more and more concerned with the health of honeybees and wild bee populations, it seems like knowing the source of our honey is critical. Knowing the source can communicate what agricultural and beekeeping practices were used on the ground and we can gauge what systems of production we’re supporting by simply knowing the source of our honey. As I’ve learned, those practices can have dramatically different impacts on the earth, on the bees, and perhaps, on human health.

Not much. Other than a very small mom and pop operation in Alberta, a Google search of “canola honey” turns up nothing – no major honey packer makes mention of canola on their labels or on their web sites. As it turns out, there are also no federal labelling laws in Canada or the US which restrict the use of the terms ‘Clover’, ‘Alfalfa’, or any other stated nectar source. That means a product labelled as “Clover”, “Alfalfa”, or any other nectar source might have canola blended into it without any requirements to label it accurately. As for the products just labelled as honey, only a best guess can lend insights into its true contents!

Owned by McCormick & Company (US), Billy Bee is Canada’s largest honey packer and one of the largest in the world. Billy Bee turned down our request to appear on our Honey television episode. Their products or web site make no mention of canola honey despite the company sourcing most of their honey from Alberta and Saskatchewan – the epicenters of canola production. As seen below, canola isn’t even mentioned on their Sources of Honeyweb page:

We did send Billy Bee an email asking if their products contain canola honey. Their response,“Honey is produced from the nectar that bees gather from flowers (such as alfalfa, canola and clover)”.

Canada’s second largest honey packer. Their slogan is “Mother Nature’s Perfect Food”…

BeeMaid makes no mention of canola honey on their products’ labels but on the company’s web site there is a brief canola comment made as part of their “Hive to Home” videos…

An email was sent to the company asking if their products contain canola. The response –“Our classic honey is a multi-floral source of Canola, Alfalfa and Clover. Our premium clover honey is still multi floral but would contain mostly clover.”

Burleson’s is the largest honey packer in the US southwest. This company also makes no mention of canola on their products or web site yet their labels on their Clover Honey are telling… (note the field of canola behind the word “clover”!!!)

An email was also sent to Burleson’s asking if the company uses canola. Their response, “We do not distribute a canola specific honey although many of Burleson’s honeys are a blend of honeys collected from several beekeepers and a variety of floral sources so canola is likely part of the mix.  We blend the honey to create the consistent flavor and color our customers have come to expect.”

True Source is an initiative launched by different players in the US honey industry to respond to concerns with illegal circumvented honey coming into the United States and Canada (predominantly from China). This concern was highlighted as part of Deconstructing Dinner’s Honey episode. Honey packers like Burleson’s and Bee Maid use the True Source logo which is said to communicate to eaters that the company pledges to “carry truthful labelling as to its source”. I interviewed True Source spokesperson Jill Clark for our Genetically Engineered Honey podcast. Clark confirmed that True Source does not guarantee any claims as to the floral source of honey but only guarantees claims of the product’s geographic origins.

1. The unknown human health impacts of inserting genes in a lab from one species or kingdom into another

2. With the majority of GE plants requiring the use of toxic chemicals to function as designed, GE foods are directly linked to the use of these chemical herbicides and thereby whatever impacts those chemicals have on water and soil quality, impacts to wildlife – both plants and animals, air quality, and human health.

3. With GE plants being patented technology – the companies owning those patents are granted significant power over how those plants are grown and who grows then – it’s ultimately the ownership of life, and a significant level of control over the global supply of seed.

4. There is growing suspicion that the presence of GE plants and the systems required to grow those plants are a contributor to the declines in honeybee populations worldwide and until we can be certain, many people have long been calling on the precautionary principle to be used.

5. While not specific to GE plants, there has also been growing concern that the class of chemicals known as neonicitinoids (or neonics) is a contributor to global declines in bee populations. In Western Canada, the most prevalent use of neonics – is on canola and almost all of that canola is sprayed with these controversial chemicals. According to the Canadian Honey Council, half of all the honeybee colonies in the country spend part of their life pollinating canola.

And so with these controversial underpinnings of GE plants and in this case, GE canola, it’s no wonder the honey industry seems to be taking careful measures to ensure that canola honey, despite its widespread presence on supermarket shelves, is not mentioned on the label, nor on most honey packer’s web sites.

And so with no systems in place to assure the public of the types of honey which are truly in the container – anyone concerned with the presence of honey from genetically engineered canola is better off avoiding the supermarket shelves. Instead, consider informing yourself about honey standards of identity initiatives, perhaps consider producing your very own honey, or, support a local beekeeper who you can meet and develop a trusting relationship with.

- Jon Steinman