Organic Honey Certification Impossible in U.S.

Obstacles to Certifying Honey Organic
Producers feeling the sting from inability to obtain right to use 'organic' label
Kelly Stone, Grand Forks Herald (USA), 2/13/2006

When you think of honey, you probably think of words like "healthy," "pure" or "natural." But you might be surprised to hear that, currently, it's impossible for U.S. honey producers to get their product certified as organic.

Dr. Marla Spivak, a University of Minnesota entomologist, says while Europe and Canada have standards in place for certifying organic honey, there are no such standards yet in the United States. Spivak says under existing USDA guidelines, it may be difficult, if not impossible, to create honey certification standards.

Right now, USDA classifies bees as livestock. To certify livestock as organic, producers must prove that the animals have not come into contact with certain chemicals or genetically modified material. While cattle ranchers can confine their herd with fences, bees fly freely up to 10 miles from their hive in search of pollen and nectar. Spivak says it's unrealistic to expect beekeepers to control so much surrounding farmland. . .