Supermarket aisles are full of adulterated and fake honey products.
From importing honey from countries with low-quality control and standards to heating up the honey to hide the source and the additives or to speed up the bottling process, many honey brands are falsely representing what they’re actually selling. And, it’s everything but honey.
In fact, many of these fake honey brands are selling processed honey which contains a toxic and life-threatening compound known as HMF.
This is why we need to encourage higher awareness among consumers when shopping for quality honey that’s organic, healthy, and free of toxins and additives.
Unfortunately, this isn’t an easy process because a lot of these brands sell poor-quality honey using marketing copy with phrases like pure or grade A honey that can be misleading.
Fake Honey Is Everywhere: Avoid These Brands
Honey which has been stripped of its health benefits and heated to high temperatures is nothing more than a sweetener! It can’t be considered honey!
According to Food Safety News, more than 75% of the honey sold in America isn’t what the bees actually produce. Rather, the industry is modifying the honey in various ways.
A lot of fake honey brands are diluting the honey using cheaper sugar like high-fructose corn syrup and different sweeteners.
To help you on the path of finding quality honey, we’re going to share a list of the top processed and fake honey brands that you should avoid buying if you’re on the lookout for pure honey, not a sweetener without any health benefits!
In most conventional supermarkets today, the so-called honey products on the shelves are actually zero pollen. Pollen is pivotal because it’s a one-of-a-kind fingerprint that’s a validation of the origin of the honey.
When honey doesn’t contain pollen, it has probably been adulterated or filtered. So, when you eat such honey, you miss out on some essential nutritional elements.
Ultra-filtration was initially intended to filter out the wax particles that float into honey during the extraction. But, they redefined this refining process and made it worse. Today, it’s used to prolong honey’s shelf-life, but at an expensive toll: the pollens!
Fake honey is pasteurized, heated, and pressurized and the honey is stripped of the pollen, as well as of wax, bee propolis, and enzymes.
This process makes honey clearer and makes it last longer; however, it also diminishes its health benefits, and the source and its quality aren’t easy to pinpoint. Chinese honey imported into the US is also an issue. The industry there is highly questionable because they use pesticides, antibiotics, and even lead in the honey.
There are some quality and organic products there, but a lot of fake honey products are of Chinese origin. Here are some popular brands of honey you had no idea were fake:
- Signature Select Honey
A sample from Safeway clover honey was tested and had zero pollen. This is an indicator that the honey was ultra-filtrated.
It was exposed to high heat and pressure and all of the health advantages were stripped away during this process.
- Nature Nate’s Honey
Their 100% pure raw and unfiltered honey is marketed as if the consumers get the rawest possible honey. But, this is far from the truth.
This honey isn’t raw at all because it’s been heated and contains high levels of HMF, a toxic compound, as well as potential syrup additives.
- Walgreens Nice, Pure Honey
This is actually a highly processed and heated honey that’s been stripped of healthy enzymes, essential minerals, and vitamins, as well as its antioxidants. It’s nowhere near pure, raw honey. It’s a sweetener.
- Kroger Honey Wildflower
This honey was found to be heated at high temperatures due to which it has lost significant health benefits.
Unfortunately, it also has HMF, a toxic compound. Therefore, their label is highly misleading about what’s actually inside the bottle!
- Whole Foods’s 365 Organic Honey
Unfortunately, this honey has been heated and stripped of the health benefits that real raw honey provides.
When you pick up a package of this Mountain Forest Honey, you’re not getting pure and raw honey, but rather a sweetener without the valuable nutrients that real honey has.
A Healthier Solution: Raw, Pure, and Organic Honey: Where to Find It?
Considering the abundance of fake honey brands today, it can be a real challenge to find honey that’s really pure, organic, and raw. However, don’t lose your hopes just yet! You can still find enzymes, antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals.
Food Safety News notes that honey from farmers’ markets, co-ops, and stores such as Trader Joe’s had full pollen. Such outlets make it a priority to source honey from local beekeepers and to ensure the honey’s authenticity and traceability.
This honey contains all the necessary nutrients, as well as a sufficient amount of pollen, beeswax, and propolis for additional health benefits.
When buying honey, make sure you’ve powered yourself with the necessary knowledge. Become more familiar with the local beekeepers in your community and inquire about their honey production processes.
By supporting small businesses that guarantee honey purity, you also support the decline of bee populations and encourage better crop pollination and a healthier and more balanced ecosystem.
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