Are you a regular user of honey? If so please stop a while!!!!!!!!

Hi vegan, Thank you very much for providing much information about honey bees and the business people. I didn’t know that human being is doing this much cruelty to each and every animal/birds. Earlier I got a forward mail which described the plight of chicken/duck; they are forced to eat much just for getting fat enough. I really can’t understand where we are heading to…. it is sure we will face the consequences sooner or late for our cruelty …. Your understanding is right, bees are collecting honey for their own purpose and they are doing much work for collecting honey from flowers. Business people are taking advantage from it, in addition, they are doing cruelty to them. I don't use honey as a sweetener but used sometimes as a medicine. Now I don't think I will use the same for any treatment.

I consume honey myself but only from a friend who has bees or the honey guy at the local market who I know does not add anything to it. We only eat raw honey in it's natural state. I used to feel bad about eating honey, but then I realised that the bees will produce it in abundance naturally anyway, so if we do not consume it, then it will go to waste. I will not support the big companies that mass produce it though. Stevia is a great sweetener, but you have to read the labels on some of those Stevia products too. We had some given to us that had Stevia in big huge letters across it and then we read the ingredients and Stevia Extract was only a very small ingredient. There were lots of chemicals in there. So I threw it away. The best way to use stevia is to grow and harvest your own. We have a plant here and I like to pull leaves of it to munch on for a sweet treat every now and then. We really need to get a few more. A lot of Raw Vegans use Agave nectar as a sweetener, but I do not like to use it much. We sell it, but it has started to get a bit of a bashing in the natural health world so it does not sell as well as it used to. It is still better than processed sugar though, it is what we call a 'gateway raw food'.

It is my understanding that bees only produce enough honey for themselves, both for immediate use & in later seasons when flowers are not blooming. They really don't intend for humans to continuously take all the fruits of their best efforts from them on a regular basis. On the fact sheets we get from vegan societies, there are many more arguments why people shouldn't eat honey. Many beekeepers run their businesses like factory farms. They often take inhumane steps to ensure personal safety, meet production quotas & maximize profits. Larger honey producers are known to clip the wings of queen bees to stop them leaving the colony. Others are known to artificially inseminate queen bees similarly to what is being done to livestock on factory farms today. When the keeper wants the queen to move to a new colony, she is carried with "bodyguard bees", all of whom, if they survive transport, will be killed by bees in the new colony. Bees need at least sixty pounds of honey to survive the winter (USA figures). Many operators are not aware of this & take all of it regardless. Others replace this honey they've taken with a cheap sugar substitute that is not nearly as fortifying & tastes not as good. In colder areas, if keepers think it too costly to keep the bees alive over the winter, they will destroy the hives by pouring fuel over them. Bees that aren't killed by the fumes will die when the keeper sets it on fire. Many keepers feel lost bees are easily replaced, so allow them to die when they spray their trees with insecticide. Bees are often killed or their legs & wings torn off by haphazard handling. To produce one pound of honey, bees must travel over 55000 miles to gather pollen from over 2 million flowers. Food miles. In 1987, honey production in USA made a profit of US$115.4 million. It's much more than that these days. An organic certified product, facilities & grower is not as good as one with a bio-dynamic certification. Bio-dynamics have much higher minimum ethical standards than certified organic. It will, of course, come with a higher price-tag. Unless I'm familiar with the practices carried out by the beekeeper, I'd be very hesitant to purchase their product. It comes at too higher price for me.

Hello ananad, I am guessing that you must be 'anand' from your avatar. I hope I am right if not please inform me. I just imagine your journey for searching the honey in jungle. But collecting the honey from forest is not an easy task, honey bees are very dangerous and they will attack you for protecting their honey. So be careful. Thank you so much and have nice time

The credit goes to your avatar which has some specialty, so I could recognize you very easily. Honey bees are dangerous; their bite is very painful. I have seen in my home, honey collection is doing at night, that time they won’t attack.

Yes you are correct :) ... Anand here... Actually i had canceled my old account.. But thats good that you still recognize me by my avatar.. Well thanks for informing me that honey bees are more attacking then normal.. well i guess i have to change my mind.. :D ha ha... actually i know some people who do collect honey for their home from jungle.. but i guess they are experts as they are doing it from starting.. as they are living around jungle area may be they know how to do it!!!!

Hopefully the authorities concerned of our countries not only pay full attention to the export products which benefit the national treasury. They should also value the health of the citizens of the country.

You are lucky enough to be the citizen of that great country. I really salute the authorities of your country.

I too wish the same Buchi. I thought that honey never harms anybody. I knew that duplicate honey is also available, it may not be beneficial like original but it won't harm. Here the case is different. Let us hope the government did their work well.

My Apiaries are situated in the province of Ontario about 90 miles East of Toronto, along the North Shore of Lake Ontario. We have been in production for over 30 years, and are currently running around 1200 colonies of Honey Bees.

Hi barehugs, Nice to meet a honey producer here and I am glad to know that you people are taking care of honey bees as well as the health of the public. Please continue the good work. Best of luck.

Hello Shibham, I am fine and what about you? Honey is good and if it is home made then nothing to worry. But major percentage of the population is using branded honey and this news is shocking for Indians. The pity thing is Indian government is not concerned about the product sold in India but very particular for export. I have received it, thank you much. Have a nice day.

Yes. Shree is interested to birds and me too. I have a huge collection of birds pics from my locality. So i mail pics of bird to her. Hahaha.

meulan, there is no relation in between 'honey and bird'. And answer of Shibham has given through private mail

Hi lemargue, I agree, the pure food products are not longer available. Everybody is aiming to make money and forgetting about the health of fellow being. Thanks for sharing your views. Have a nice weekend.

Hi Cosmo, I don't know how you can think passive like this. The famous brands come under the list, which is really a matter of concern. Indian companies are dumping their contaminated honey in domestic market, what does it mean? My thoughts about honey were which is pure and never harm anybody’s health because it is the gift from the nature. A negative thought never comes in my mind about honey till I read this news. I knew that each and every product in the market contained some chemicals and preservatives and I thought that ‘honey’ was an exception. You don’t need to worry because honey is available in many houses in your place. Thank you so much and have a nice weekend.

Hi dear, Honey is very famous for its medicinal value. Now the new revelation is a matter for concern. Take care and have nice day.

Hi Sham, So you are my neighbour (I checked your profile today). Original honey is available there so nothing to worry. We have to be careful when buy the same from shop. Thank you so much and have a nice day.

Its my pleasure Ganesh. Thank you very much and have a nice time

Hello manoj, I am cutting and pasting some part of news here. The contamination is the end result of a murky chain, which begins when antibiotics are fed to bees to prevent disease, promote growth and increase honey production to meet commercial targets. When they make their way into your daily spoonful of honey, these substances could damage the blood, kidneys, liver, bones and teeth. More importantly, they create resistance in the body to prescribed antibiotics when you really do fall ill, says the CSE report. Your argument, we are not using the same in bulk is not true. Many are using honey instead of sugar as it prevents fats. The benefit of honey is plenty and people are making use of it now. I strongly believed that ‘honey’ is always healthy and can’t harm anybody. Now I realized my foolishness. I know many people who are using honey regularly because it is good for immunity. From your reply I guess that you are not using honey daily. Thank you so much for your views. Have a nice day.

Hi Guna, Honey is very sweet and tasty so naturally we may drink if we get a chance. The other thing is we strongly believed that honey is good for heath and just can’t imagine that the honey is contaminated with antibiotics. Home made honey - I meant that producing honey at home. In my home there is an earth pot which covered properly and made a hole for the smooth passage of honey bees and hanging the same in outside corner (back side) of the house. In between collecting the honey and changing the pot without disturbing the bees. So the collection of honey is doing in night. I hope now you understand what I meant. Thanks and have a nice day guna.

Hi kannan, If it is home-made honey then nothing to worry. In South home made honey is available easily. Many are keeping honey-bees at home for personal use and we can trust those honey. But business people may use artificial things to get maximum profit. Thank you so much for the participation.

Hi Phong, Yes, honey is very costly and because of the same reason it is difficult to use on daily basis. However, you need not worry to use the honey from India as Indian government is very much care on exporting goods. They are exporting pure honey only. Thank you so much for your response. Have a nice day.

It will be a great idea then, you will be safe and can enjoy pure honey too.

Well, glad to hear that from you. Maybe, I myself produce honey for my cooks. There are a lot of people who produce honey in my country.

it's only a ridiculous dream! Actually it's not easy for me to own a laboratory. It needs considerable capital,professional staffs, etc to run a quality laboratory. Anyways thanks for sharing such valuable info here. This reminds me to keep an eye on when purchasing honey or any other edible products. You are most welcome and thanks for the appreciation as well as the BR Have a nice day

Hi dear, It will be very nice if you start your own laboratory. In fact it may become very necessary for us in future. Now each and every product is contaminated and it is good if we make sure the purity of the product before consumption. But I am afraid after the test nothing will be left to eat for us, means nothing will be there as pure. Thank you very much for your witty reply. Take care and have a nice weekend.

It may be a ridiculous, but not a bad one.

Hi dear, Your choice is good and you can trust the same dear. Now branded honey, that also famous brand, caught for contaminating the pure honey. Let us trust the home made honey only.

Hi kiran, It means you are so sure about the purity of honey you are using and I am happy to know about the same. Yes, business people wanted to make money only and they don’t bother about other’s health. Thanks for sharing and have a nice weekend.

Hello sir, I am not forgetting about the truth, but I had much confidence on honey. I strongly believed that honey is very pure and nobody can do something. I know that the artificial honey is available but the contaminated honey from honey bees, very much disgusting and shocked. Thank you very much for your reply. Take care.

Hi rijo, I too think the same. Government should take care of the quality of the products which are meant for the local market. In fact, I had one bottle of honey from the famous Company Dabur, I have thrown the same into dustbin after reading the news. Yes before throwing I tested the quality at home, which was not pure. I too bring some honey when I visited my native place where my father collected the same from nearby tree (honeybees made it). Now I think I will get the same on my next visit to native. Thank you so much for the reply. Have nice time. [b]Happy Deepawali. [/b]

Hi shukla, That will be nice and safe for your but unfortunately I have not owned honeybees in my home. I cam getting the same from my village when I visit there. Thanks for joining. Have a nice day.