132 Drums of Illegally Imported Chinese Honey

[BeeMaster2]

MIAMI ? On Aug. 12, Import Specialists from the Miami based Agriculture & Prepared Products Center of Excellence & Expertise (APP Center) in collaboration with U.S. Customs & Border Protection (CBP) Officers and Special Agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement?s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Chicago, seized around 42 tons of illegally imported Chinese honey.  This represents the third such significant seizure of honey in four months.
The honey was contained in 132 fifty-five gallon drums that were falsely declared as originating from Taiwan to evade anti-dumping duties applicable to Chinese-origin honey.  The evaded anti-dumping duties on this shipment of Chinese honey would be nearly $180,299 based on the rates imposed by the U.S. Department of Commerce, had CBP not intervened.
Prior to seizing the smuggled honey, samples were sent to the CBP Laboratory for analysis, where it was determined that the honey had a greater than 99 percent probability match with honey originating from China.
Import Specialists have been working with HSI agents on honey transshipment for years following concerns from industry experts about how anti-dumping circumvention schemes like the one announced today foster a divergent market which severely disadvantages legitimate importers, processors and end-users of honey versus those who place cost above truth-in-labeling.  Today?s seizure follows a string of successful criminal prosecutions by HSI Chicago agents of multiple U.S. importers convicted of illegally transacting in smuggled Chinese honey disguised as Taiwanese ? among many other false origins ? who were ultimately sentenced and subsequently deported.
?Customs and Border Protection considers Trade Enforcement a priority since it levels the playing field for legitimate companies. The agency certainly does not want questionable companies having a competitive edge because they choose not to correctly describe their products to evade duties,? stated Center Director for Agriculture & Prepared Products Center of Excellence & Expertise Dina M. Amato.
Upon successful forfeiture of the honey to the United States following the government?s ongoing investigation into the full supply chain, the seized honey will be destroyed.
With the recent enactment of the Trade Facilitation and Trade Enforcement Act of 2015 (TFTEA), Congress recognized that industries and companies that circumvent U.S. law and regulation remain a risk to this nation?s economic security.  Among its provisions, TFTEA requires CBP and HSI to collaborate to enhance trade enforcement.  One of the ways of meeting this requirement comes in the form of an increased and more focused perspective by CBP in the trade arena.
Over the past few years, CBP has stood up ten industry based Centers of Excellence & Expertise as part of CBP?s plan to become more industry and account focused in order to protect the interests of legitimate businesses.  These Centers are placed around the country and the Agriculture & Prepared Products Center of Excellence & Expertise is one of these centers and it is headquartered out of CBP?s Miami Field Office in Florida.  The APP Center currently employs CBP Import Specialists around the U.S. in dozens of ports of entry whose main focus is ensuring the legitimacy of importations in the agricultural/food industry.
This recent seizure and others occurring around the country in a number of other industries are a great indication that CBP?s efforts are paying off and that the recently enacted TFTEA is already making an impact in the trade enforcement arena.
The public may submit allegations and tips concerning food fraud to the APP Center at:  [email protected].
U.S. Customs and Border Protection is the unified border agency within the Department of Homeland Security charged with the management, control and protection of our nation's borders at and between the official ports of entry. CBP is charged with keeping terrorists and terrorist weapons out of the country while enforcing hundreds of U.S. laws.

[Dallasbeek]

Not to mention the purity of some of China's honey, or whether some of it is actually honey.

[GSF]

It'd been nice if they said something like, traces of ???? and ????, ect were found to be present.

[Thebulimicbee]

Maybe I missed it. But I didn't see anything in the article about the honey not being pure or being unedible. Why is it being destroyed? Again maybe I missed it... but with all the Starving people in the world they are destroying 42 tons of honey because it was not properly paid for?

[Dallasbeek]

Why would we feed sugar to starving people?

[GSF]

From what I've read in the past, China's honey is usually fake and/or tainted with something picked up from the processing. I read somewhere that lead containers was used in some provinces. As far as hungry people goes, sugar isn't nutritional. China does what some of the American commercial companies does. They'll feed corn syrup to the bees and then sell it as honey. 

[Dallasbeek]

Sometimes they don't bother with the bees.  They just mix some honey with sugar water.  Saves them time, I guess.  People that will mix melamine with milk for baby formulas will do just about anything. 

I'm in no way saying all Chinese people would do such things, and when the baby formula stuff hit the fan in 2008, it was a big scandal in China.  After all, it was Chinese babies getting the formula.  And heads rolled over that one -- perhaps literally!  The Chinese government has a difficult job policing that many people, many of whom are desperate to escape poverty. 

But labelling honey, steel or whatever shipped from China as being from Taiwan, Viet Nam, Indonesia or wherever is a major problem.  It's being done by tycoons, probably with approval of the Chinese government, to avoid high tariffs imposed because they are "dumping" products at lower-than-market prices for various reasons, most having to do with shoring up their domestic economy by providing higher employment than justified by market forces.  In the case of honey, it was my impression Chinese honey could not be imported because of it being tainted.

[Dallasbeek]

Well, I looked it up and found Cinese honey is not banned outright from the U.S., but is banned in Europe.

[Thebulimicbee]

Why would we feed sugar to starving people?

Yes let's go to all the soup kitchens and let them know they don't need sugar... or honey because it is completely useless to them. Honey is only for people that have food already, anyways back to my honey garlic chicken