An important piece of legislation has been introduced in the US House of Representatives which deserves the attention of all beekeepers who keep 1 or 100 or 1000 hives. It is intended to protect the integrity of all honey sold in the US. It is called the Honey Identification Verification and Enforcement (HIVE) Act.

Every beekeeper in the state needs to contact their Congressional Representative to ask for their support of this important legislation.

“How does it affect me”, you may ask. The answer is obvious when you encounter people at fairs and local markets who tell you that honey is just that sticky yellow stuff that tastes like sugar that you find in the store. They have been conditioned to expect all honey to be the bland, often adulterated, liquids that come from countries of unknown origin. Foreign producers are allowed to import these sometimes inferior products and sell them for artificially low prices because there are no regulations to prevent the addition of cheap extenders to their honey, and to require clear country of origin markings for these products. In the absence of regulation, there is also no enforcement process available to prevent these inferior products from being labeled as ‘Pure Honey’ and sold at retail. This is bad for all of us who try our best to produce a high-quality and flavorful product for our customers.

The HIVE Act seeks to establish the long-needed controls to remedy this situation. You can read more about the act and its sponsor at this link.