The honey lobby is demanding that the government define honey

The honey lobby is demanding that the government define honey!

At the above link, you can read a very interesting article about the honey lobby and how after failing to get the FDA to define honey they have turned to the USDA for help, and are lobbying for more  restrictions on imports and the labeling of honey to prevent dumping and cutting with corn syrups etc. what do you think about this? could this cause smaller beekeepers and honey sellers too much of a burden?

I think it greatly depends on the type of regulations imposed, but this could cause unnecessary burdens on smaller honey producers, if they are required to fill out more paperwork etc. this could be the straw that breaks the camels back so to speak, if a lawyer is needed in order to get through the red tape that could follow. If it is solely a labeling requirement or something simple that states whether or not they have been using corn syrup or sugar to feed the bees or if the honey has been cut with any other sugars this could have a great benefit to natural and organically produced honey farmers who strive for high quality products. The only problem would be the testing involved to prove authenticity, these tests can be extremely expensive, not to mention the amount of tests required could be very high. By this I mean that each type of honey a beekeeper makes is different and thus would require a test to prove it’s purity. Also, each harvest of each type of honey is different from the next, this creates a problem as well, does each harvest need to be tested? does each drum extracted from the comb need to be tested? and what about comb products? how do we test each pieces purity?

As you can see there are many problems that arise from the possibility of regulations being imposed. It is hard to say without seeing actual legislation being voted on to tell whether it would be beneficial or not. As it stands the government is not doing enough to protect the consumers from poisonous or fake honey, but what they will do to rectify that is what my biggest concern becomes.

(As is many times the case, the comments section of this article is just as entertaining as the article itself so make sure the read all the way through for full enjoyment!)