Organic Honey vs. Local Honey

An interesting read.

The organic vs. local dilemma

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loved this lineā€¦ā€œUnlike a carrot, a forager bee can fly up to five kilometres in search of foodā€ :slight_smile:
& thanks for putting me onto a really interesting site

I hardly see it as two choices. First they are not mutually exclusive. Heā€™s assuming that because he is in a densely populated area, but I bet there is local honey that is not far away that is not. In the US of course, there is no organic standard, so if it says itā€™s ā€œorganicā€ on the label they are either lying or it came from some other country and meets THEIR standards. Then it would definitely not be local. It is possible to be local and not organic; local and organic; or it can be organic and not local. But the think Iā€™m most concerned about is if itā€™s treatment free, meaning the beekeeper doesnā€™t put any chemicals in the hive. Itā€™s difficult for a beekeeper to find a location where the 8,000 acres that the bees forage is not treated in any way, but itā€™s simple enough to not treat the bees,and most of the chemicals that end up in a hive come from the beekeepers.

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I met a beekeeper that sell organic honey, then I ask her what did you mean with ā€œorganicā€? she answer ā€œhoney with pollenā€. :slight_smile:

Heā€™s not saying itā€™s mutually exclusive. he is saying that for this particular location, the city of Melbourne, it isnā€™t possible to find locally produced honey, which also meets Australian standards for Organic classification/labelling.
Melbourne has a very strong food culture & movement for consumption of locally produced food.
He states that he is referring to Melbourne. Actually criteria for organic food accreditation is very stringent, as mentioned in the article.

Labelling or calling something organic, (which of course all honey is, small ā€˜oā€™), is very different to a product having/being labelled with Organic accreditation. Again something which is referred to in the article, he is stating that because of these strict standards/parameters it is not possible to meet these with any guarantee within a city environment. Honey produced in areas where these standards can be met, can not claim to be locally produced.

" Itā€™s NASAAā€™s Organic Standard that will be referred to here."

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Organic accreditations are worthless.

Itā€™s not transparent enough, is it? I would like to know the country of origin.
ACO is stringently sticking to the organic standard, so I usually trust their certification.
Itā€™s obviously not part of ACO labeling requirements to disclose country of origin.
Honey from Flow supers canā€™t be certified organic by ACO by the way. Plastic in supers is not permitted at this stage. Only naturally drawn comb or foundation from certified organic sources.

Organic certification is a crock. Simply a money spinner for wanna be do gooders. No Flow honey isnā€™t certified although honey packaged in plastic can be? If Flow paid them enough money it could be certifiable Iā€™d wager.
Tell me the imported honey, probably from China is organic, or even the sugar they feed the bees to increase harvests is organic and Iā€™ll show you Santa riding his sleigh. :neutral_face:

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Thatā€™s too bad. A big question to me is can you trust anything ā€œorganicā€ anywhere anymore?

Personally the organic label, or trademark means the product will cost more money. I grow my own fruit and veggies and although I donā€™t use any pesticides of synthetics I couldnā€™t market any as organic, if I did market of course. My friends who receive produce from me know it is actually organic, probably more organic than ā€˜organicā€™ if you know what I mean, sustainable with a fraction of the carbon foot print. Iā€™d rather buy fruit and veg from the farmers market that isnā€™t labelled as organic.
Having said this, certified organic produce has regulations that do need to be respected.
But tell me my honey, from state forrest, straight out of the frame and into a jar is less organic than mixed, filtered, pasteurised and heat treated certified organic and Iā€™ll eat my bee suit.
Rant over. :wink:

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