'Honey laundering' from China through India to America

New York: Tainted Chinese honey full of untraceable antibiotics and heavy metals is being smuggled into India, then labelled and re-shipped into America, according to accusations in several US news reports.

This scam related to Chinese honey carrying “Made in India” labels has the potential to do serious damage to the reputation of Indian honey producers. The clandestine “honey laundering” trade is not only damaging to the Indian honey industry, but also to our international trading reputation.

[caption id=“attachment_126529” align=“alignright” width=“380” caption=“Chinese honey producers began using filtering methods to conceal the origin of their honey after the US imposed anti-dumping tariff on Chinese honey. Jacky Naegelen / Reuters”]  [/caption]

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The American Honey Producers Association said that over 60 million pounds of Indian honey exports reached the US in the first half of 2011 and that much of it is believed to have been first produced in China, then rerouted to skirt American trade restrictions. The producers group alleged that the shipments included large amounts of “white honey” which doesn’t typically exist in a tropical country like India.

“Much of this honey is believed to be Chinese honey illegally transshipped through India to circumvent the US tariff on Chinese honey,” said the American Honey Producers Association.

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The producers group said this “tsunami of ‘Indian’ honey, coming just prior to the arrival of the American and Canadian honey crops,” could be interpreted as a “deliberate effort” to push down US wholesale honey prices.

Pollen frequently had been filtered out of the products, reported the Food Safety News, which carried out lab tests on 60 jars of honey sold in US groceries.

“Ultra filtering is a high-tech procedure where honey is heated, sometimes watered down and then forced at high pressure through extremely small filters to remove pollen, which is the only foolproof sign identifying the source of the honey,” explained the US journal which reports on issues surrounding food safety.

According to US experts, Chinese honey producers began using filtering methods to conceal the origin of their honey in 2001 after the US Commerce Department imposed a $1.20 anti-dumping tariff on every pound of Chinese honey. The taxes were slapped on Chinese honey after American beekeepers complained that they were being forced out of the business because of dirt-cheap, heavily subsidised Chinese honey being dumped in the market.

“There is only one reason to ultra-filter honey and there’s nothing good about it,” Richard Adee, who produce seven million pounds of honey each year, told Food Safety News.

“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 and the fact is that in almost all cases, that is China,” Adee added.

The US was successful in choking off illegal Chinese honey imports from Indonesia and Malaysia so the action has shifted to other parts of Asia. According to the industry, millions of pounds of Chinese honey now flow into the US through India and Vietnam.

It stands to reason that New Delhi must clamp down on Chinese honey illegally labelled “Product of India” to protect the integrity of India’s trade.