Why Honey Purity Matters
The earliest evidence of honey gathering dates back to 8000 B.C. Cave paintings in Spain depict a man on a cliff swarmed by bees as he robs the colony of its treasure. But it was the Egyptians who began to cultivate honey bees to both pollinate their crops and produce honey. Honey was used by all classes of ancient Egyptians, indicating that honey was produced on a large scale. Through the passage of time, other cultures and nations found efficient ways to nurture bees.
Today, the global production volume of honey is 1.77 million metric tons with a market value of over 8.17 Billion USD. The USDA reports that in 2019, American bee keepers with 2.81 million hives produced 157 million pounds of honey, yet we consumed over 630 million pounds. One might ask, from where did the rest of the honey come? According to the USDA, most of the remaining 472 million pounds was imported from Vietnam, China and India. America is currently the #1 importer of honey in 2021.
This imported honey not only dramatically drove down the wholesale cost in the United States, but throughout the world. Unfortunately, to mask its origin, foreign honey is transshipped to other countries before entering the United States. As a result, an anti dumping suit was filed by U.S. producers in 2021. A preliminary ruling suggests that imported honey from Ukraine, Brazil, China, Argentina, and Vietnam were allegedly sold in America at less than fair market value. This resulted in seriously injuring the American honey industry. Not only was this dumping hurting American beekeepers, but the purity of this foreign honey was highly suspect.
Honey from Asia or honey which is transshipped to countries like Equador or Argentina has been found to be adulterated and filled with harmful chemicals. Adulteration of honey means that is impure. Dextrose, molasses, C4 sugars such as corn or rice syrup, invert sugar or other common adulterants have been added. Unscrupulous beekeepers or packers adulterate their honey to increase volume, thus market share. Because the USDA does not test for adulteration, honey is now the third most adulterate food behind olive oil and milk. In addition, because most beekeepers are commercial pollinators, honey has also been found to contain agro-toxins such as neonicotinoids and harmful fungicides. Combined, these two chemicals potentiate toxicity tenfold to both honeybee and human alike. We are not commercial pollinators. Our bees live with us on our mountain top apiary and never move.
There is no denying that honey in its purist form is a powerhouse of taste, flavor and has many health benefits. The ancients knew this, but modern demand for honey has turned it into a bastardized, tainted commodity, We at Killer Bees Honey have an entirely different model for our bees and honey alike. We are located deep in the mountains of Western North Carolina. Our bees forage throughout the Pisgah National Forest. The nearest farm is 12 miles away as the bee flies. They are not exposed to any agro-toxins. We never use chemicals or antibiotics in our hives. Modern beekeepers use chemicals such as Amitraz to keep varroa mites in check. Honey absorbs this potent pesticide. We organically treat the hives for mites using only the gas vapors of formic or oxalic acid. Note that due to the ubiquitous use of the herbicide glyphosate (Roundup) by agribusiness in America, it is found in almost every part of our food supply, and is now banned in the EU. Our honey continually tests glyphosate free.
We are the only beekeepers in America who send honey to multiple labs throughout the world for analysis of adulteration and purity, then publishes each report. QSI Labs, Sweetwater Science Labs, even Intertek in Germany have tested our honey for all agro-toxins, chemicals and antibiotics. Every year the results are the same —our honey is toxin and chemical free. We have been told by two independent labs that we have the purest honey they have ever tested coming out of the United States. All lab reports demonstrating the purity of Killer Bees Honey can be found here.
Killer Bees Honey is dedicated to producing the highest quality product for the most discerning customer. We don't blend, mix, flavor or infuse our honey. What our bees forage from the Pisgah Forest is what we bottle on our mountain top property. When you buy our honey, know we extend this same high moral and ethical standards to the care of our bees.
