A&M prof uncovers trick used to sell fraudulent honey

Vaughn Bryant, right, is an anthropology professor at Texas A&M University and melissopalynologist Â¯ someone who studies the pollen in honey. He says most honey for sale has all the pollen filtered out, making its origin unclear. less Vaughn Bryant, right, is an anthropology professor at Texas A&M University and melissopalynologist Â¯ someone who studies the pollen in honey. He says most honey for sale has all the pollen filtered out, ... more Photo: Texas A&M University Photo: Texas A&M University Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close A&M prof uncovers trick used to sell fraudulent honey 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

With premium honey going for as much as $50 a jar, imitations are bound to show up on shelves.

A Texas A&M University professor and honey expert has uncovered a trick used by honey fraudsters: removing the pollen.

Vaughn Bryant is an A&M anthropology professor and "melissopalynologist" - someone who studies the pollen in honey.

In testing samples from stores and farmers markets around the country, Bryant found that more than 75 percent of honey for sale has all the pollen filtered out, according to an A&M news release.

"Large importing companies take all the pollen out of honey because they claim it makes the honey clearer and prevents crystallization, therefore making it easier to sell," Bryant said in the release.

But taking out the pollen also removes clues that show where the honey was produced and what nectar sources are dominant, he said. That means honey sellers can pass off cheap honey as premium quality.

To help prevent that, Bryant is supporting U.S. Senate Bill 662, introduced in March by Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont.

The 200-page bill, known as the "Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Reauthorization Act of 2013,'' would require U.S. Customs and Border Protection to "address concerns that honey as well as contraband archaeological or ethnological material is being imported into the United States in violation of U.S. customs laws," among other things, according to a bill summary.

Knowing where honey comes from is important not only for accurate pricing, Bryant said in the release, but also because different countries have different standards about pesticides and using antibiotics in hives to keep the bees disease-free.

While the United States has high tariffs on honey from some countries, such as China - the world's leading honey producer - some countries try to avoid the tariffs by exporting first to another country which then sells it, claiming it was produced in the second country. This is known as "transshipment" and is illegal.

Senate Bill 662 is intended to help stop honey transshipments by requiring Customs and Border Protection to compile a database of the individual characteristics of imported honey to verify country of origin and to engage foreign governments for assistance in creating the database, the A&M release said.

The latest action on the bill was Committee on Finance hearings held May 22, according to www.congress.gov.