More than three-fourths of the honey sold in U.S. grocery stores isn't exactly what the bees produce, according to testing done exclusively for Food Safety News. The results show that the pollen frequently has been filtered out of products labeled "honey."
Food Safety News purchased more than 60 jars, jugs and plastic bears of honey in 10 states. The contents were analyzed for pollen by Vaughn Bryant, a professor at Texas A&M University and one of the nation's premier melissopalynologists, or investigators of pollen in honey.
The food safety divisions of the World Health Organization, the European Commission and dozens of others also have ruled that without pollen there is no way to determine whether the honey came from legitimate and safe sources, or containing illegal antibiotics.
There is a significant difference between filtration, which is a standard industry practice intended to create a shelf-stable honey, and ultra-filtration, which is a deceptive, illegal, unethical practice.
Mark Jensen, president of the American Honey Producers Association, said, elimination of all pollen can only be achieved by ultra-filtering and this filtration process does nothing but cost money and diminish the quality of the honey. It's no secret to anyone in the business that the only reason all the pollen is filtered out is to hide where it initially came from.
Resources:Bor. S.Luh food Safety Research Center