Food Protection Trends - January/February 2014 - (Page 9)

incentives. In the sweetener industry, common targets for EMA include maple syrup and honey. The Codex Alimentarius, established by the Food and Agricultural Organization and the World Health Organization, serves as a set of voluntary international food standards, guidelines and codes of practice that "contribute to the safety, quality, and fairness of the international food trade" (7). The Codex Alimentarius defines honey as "the natural sweet substance produced by honey bees from the nectar of plants or from secretions of living parts of plants or excretions of plant sucking insects on the living parts of plants, which the bees collect, transform by combining with specific substances of their own, deposit, dehydrate, store and leave in the honey comb to ripen and mature" (6). One of the challenges with identifying EMA in honey is the lack of a federal standard of identity for honey in the U.S. Some states are working to resolve this ambiguity. Florida has a standard of identity that is very similar to the Codex Alimentarius definition, and the state legislature of Wisconsin is considering a definition for honey that will conform to the standard contained in the Codex Alimentarius (17, 46). The E.U. has a standard of identity for honey that is almost identical to that of the Codex Alimentarius (13). Several types of EMA have been identified in the honey industry. These include additives used to dilute and extend honey, intensive supplemental feeding of honey bees to increase honey production, use of antibiotics and other chemicals in honey bee populations in a way that results in residues in honey, and masking the true country of origin of honey to avoid tariffs and testing. One common type of EMA involves extending or diluting honey with other less expensive sweeteners. Commonly identified extenders are corn, cane, and beet syrups (16, 21). In 2011, the average bulk price for honey was about 173 cents per pound, while high fructose corn syrup was about 32 cents per pound and refined beet sugar was about 56 cents per pound (32). With a three- to five-fold difference in price, the use of honey extenders can lead to significant economic advantage. Supplemental feeding of honey bees with sugar syrups may be necessary to supply the nutritive requirements of colonies in areas and at times when natural food sources are inadequate and may also be important to build colonies (24). Supplemental feeding may be used to provide sustenance during the winter and early spring, before honey production begins. However, if this process is used during honey production, it can lead to a product that is similar to honey adulterated with added sugar syrups (8). The qualities of honey produced with intensive supplemental feeding include a sugar profile different from that of pure honey and dilution of the natural nutritional properties of honey. Because of these changes in quality of the final product, the authors consider intensive supplemental feeding of honey bees to be another form of EMA of honey. Certain antibiotics and other chemicals may be used in beekeeping to ensure the health of the bees in a colony. In the U.S., 10 chemicals are approved for use in honey bee colonies, three of which are antimicrobials (20). The use of approved drugs includes a required withdrawal time, which refers to the period of time during and after treatment in which honey from the treated hive should not be collected for consumption. This process helps to ensure that drug residues are not introduced into the human food supply. When unapproved drugs are used or when approved drugs are used without an appropriate withdrawal period, antibiotic and other drug residues can be present in the honey. This is a third type of EMA that has been identified in honey production. Last, in recent years, multiple instances of masking the true country of origin of honey have been documented (24, 45). This enables honey producers from certain countries to avoid additional testing or tariffs that may be imposed upon import into other countries. Shipment of honey through intermediate countries and subsequent relabeling, often called "transshipment" or "honey laundering," is one method for masking the true country of origin (23). Another method is removal of pollen through honey filtering, since pollen can be used to identify the geographic origin of honey. FACTORS IN LOSS OF QUALITY CONTROL IN THE HONEY MARKET Decreased domestic production In the past two decades, the honey market in the U.S. has shifted significantly from one in which honey production is primarily domestic to one in which more than half of honey is imported. One reason for this decline is colony collapse disorder, an unidentified syndrome in honey bees. Colony collapse disorder caused colony losses of about 33 percent each year in the U.S. from 2006 to 2011 (29). Peak honey production in the U.S. occurred in 1969, with almost 267 million pounds produced. By 2012, that level had decreased by almost 45% to 147 million pounds (32, 45). Imports correspondingly increased each year from 1969 to 2012, reaching 298 million pounds and accounting for over 66% of the available supplies in 2012 in the U.S. (see Fig. 1). Lack of a federal standard of identity In 1995, a Michigan jury ruled in favor of a honey processor indicted for the intentional sale of adulterated honey, partly because of a lack of government honey regulations (5, 33). Although no federal standard of identity currently exists for honey in the U.S., an effort has been made by the U.S. honey industry to create one. In 2006, a Citizen's Petition submitted to the FDA by various stakeholders proposed an amendment to the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations to include a standard of identity that was similar to the Codex Alimentarius definition (1). The FDA response indicated that a decision on the petition was foodprotection.org Food Protection Trends 9 http://www.foodprotection.org

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Food Protection Trends - January/February 2014

Food Protection Trends - January/February 2014
Contents
Economically Motivated Adulteration of Honey: Quality Control Vulnerabilities in the International Honey Market
Efficacy of Quaternary Ammonium Compounds on Different Conveyor Chips Contaminated with Poultry Rinsate
What Implications Does a Baseline of Self-efficacy of Food Safety in Adolescent Populations Have for Future Food Safety Education Interventions?
Food Safety Risks in Restaurants and School Foodservice Establishments: Health Inspection Reports
INOFOOD 2013 Conference & Expo
The 3rd Asia Pacific International Conference on Food Safety
China International Food Safety & Quality Conference (CIFSQ) + Expo
Dubai International Food Safety Conference (DIFSC)
Beyond the Bio
FSMA: Article 7
PDG
Industry Products
Coming Events

Food Protection Trends - January/February 2014