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Article: Obstacles to certifying honey organic.
- Article from:
- Agweek
- Article date:
- February 14, 2006
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2006 Agweek. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: Kelly Stone
Feb. 14--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.
Bees as livestock 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 ...