Chinese Honey Laundering Update

    Three men were arrested in Jacksonville, Florida on smuggling charges this week.  Chin Chou from Taiwan, Qiao Chu from China and Wei-Tang Lo from California successfully imported over 900 containers of Chinese Honey over the past two years which they fraudulently labeled rice fructose.  Once the honey passed customs as rice fructose it was shipped to warehouses where it was relabeled amber honey and sold to U.S. honey companies.  U.S. Customs did seize 123 containers (over 5,000,000 lbs/ 2.27 million kgs.) of falsely labeled Chinese honey at 11 different ports of entry.  The smugglers saved millions on anti-dumping duty ($2.63 per kilo) which was levied against Chinese honey in 2001 to counter heavily subsidized Chinese honey.  American beekeepers unable to compete were being forced out of business.  Chinese honey is ultra filtered to remove pollen which is the only way to trace the origin.  Honey from China  can contain banned antibiotics (health hazard) and heavy metals.  Sweeteners are added to the contaminated honey to mask the acrid taste and smell ( http://strathconabeekeepers.blogspot.com/2011/11/chinese-laundered-honey.html).

     In 2010 Canada exported $70 million of honey and imported $15 million of honey mostly from the U.S.,  Australia and New Zealand.  I wonder if any of that honey came to this continent as rice fructose.