Seeking Canadian honey. Yesterday, I noticed fine print on label on our honey that read something like "a mix of Canadian and Argentine honey," even though the front label claims that it is a Canadian product. In a blog post from April of this year, writer Lauren Carter discovered after talking to a (biased?) local producer that the amount of Canadian honey in the mix could be a low as 5%. I would have assumed at least 51%. Carter also notes that "Canada No.1" is a quality grade, and does not mean that the honey is 100% Canadian.

I did a bit of digging online to find that, alongside China, Argentina is one of the world's largest exporters of honey. Argentina was also, at least back in 2004, thought to be guilty of laundering honey (not money) produced in other countries (but which probably don't meet the health and safety requirements). Here's a story that broke in the UK around that time that covers some of this ground. As of May 2007, however, honey from both Argentina and China could be imported into the EU. One assumes that any quality issues have been addressed.

In Canada, honey production is regulated according to the Canada Agricultural Products Act (here is the section dealing with honey). Section 33(3) speaks to the practise of blending imported honey:

Where imported honey is blended with Canadian honey and is graded under these Regulations, the container shall be marked with the words “A Blend of Canadian and (naming the source or sources) Honey” or “mélange de miel canadien et de miel (naming the source or sources)” or “A Blend (naming the source or sources) Honey and Canadian Honey” or “mélange de miel (naming the source or sources) et de miel canadien”, the sources being named in descending order of their proportions.

That means that my jar of honey I mentioned at the beginning is likely mostly Canadian honey (i.e. >50%). So, if you are looking at buying a blended honey, make sure Canada is first on the list!

According to this 2006 report (pdf) by Canada's Agri-Food Trade Service, Canada exports 1/3 to 1/2 of its honey production. I haven't been able to find any statistics on honey imports, but I would be willing to venture that the amount is larger then the 17,000-20,000 tonnes of Canadian honey we consume domestically. Canadian honey is blended with cheaper, imported honey to deliver a product at a price point that will move at high volumes.

Now, to find a source of 100% Canadian honey and tell everyone about it.