Manitoba honey producers aren't too sweet on how their products — and honey products from other countries — are being labelled.
In April, Keystone Agricultural Producers passed a resolution from the Manitoba Beekeepers' Association to push the government to change current federal honey-labeling standards.
Many beekeepers feel Canada's current labeling system doesn't differentiate well enough between all-Canadian honey and honey blended from multiple sources.
"As long as honey is packaged in Canada and contains at least 50 per cent Canadian honey, it gets the designation of Canada Number One White, and there's really no way of telling by that 'Canada' on the front that it contains anything that's not Canadian," explains Dauphin-area producer and Manitoba Beekeepers' Association president Allan Campbell.
He says some companies will choose to import product from countries like Argentina or China and blend it with Canadian honey. He thinks current honey labeling in Canada is misleading because consumers don't know the complete origins of the product unless they read the fine print on the back of the product.
Part of Campbell's concern is food safety standards of honey exports from other countries.
"We put a lot of hard work into the food safety system in the honey industry," he says, mentioning the effort Canadian producers put into Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) inspections and other Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) programs.
"As soon as you blend (Canadian honey) with questionable honey... from countries that don't have the same standards, there's a food safety issue right off the top, but what about the other issues? Like, Canadian beekeepers uphold and pay fair wages and, you know, make sure workplaces are safe, but when you're buying from these other countries, there are definitely places that have human rights issues and workplace safety issues that we wouldn't support as a consumer if we knew what we were buying," he says.
Source : Portageonline