# True Source Honey



## LSPender (Nov 16, 2004)

Genuine attempt.


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## jim lyon (Feb 19, 2006)

Agree with Larry. :thumbsup:


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## deknow (Jul 17, 2006)

http://www.truesourcehoney.com/true-source-certified/True-Source-Presentation-to-NHPDA.pdf

...best i can tell from reading this, there is nothing about "clean"...it's only about country of origin.

all the testing discussed in the pdf posted above is about country of origin testing...nothing about testing for contaminants, nothing about testing for sugar adulteration.

nothing about "clean", nothing about "quality".

deknow


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## Roland (Dec 14, 2008)

I believe one of the board members is from Golden Heritage. It is always good to know the players. 
If I was trying to promote this effort, I would sure try to be alot more transparent. I am surpiesed they do not identifiy what company all of the board members are associated with. It would boost my confidence level, but then again I had a college roommate, whose life motto was "Trust No One".

Roland


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## Brent Bean (Jun 30, 2005)

A nice idea but looking at some of the countries that are listed. Like China, who has a reputation of selling contaminated honey threw third party suppliers. Why should they be trusted as to the origin of the honey. Or could this program just be used for a deception tool.
Like labels that I have used on my honey “ How do you know it it’s pure honey if you don’t know the Beekeeper? “


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## Countryboy (Feb 15, 2009)

We know where the road goes that's paved with good intentions.

I doubt the crooks are going to lose sleep over sticking on a liar label, and the liar label will just give consumers a false sense of security.


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## The Honey Householder (Nov 14, 2008)

All I can say as a producer is I'm glad I'm not footing the bill to the NHB anymore. To many $$$ wasted over the year to that cause. The beekeeper do very well on selling there goods with no help of big CORP.


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## alpha6 (May 12, 2008)

And this only works for those packers who want to participate and some have already opted out...so I suspect that it will last till the packers who opted out are the only ones left as they under sell the guys trying to do the right thing by pushing bad honey to the unsuspecting customer.


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## jim lyon (Feb 19, 2006)

My scorecard at this point is Genuine: 2
Not Genuine: 4
No opinion: 1
Wait and see: 1
Just keeping score, I think I am accurate to this point.


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## Klaus (Apr 24, 2008)

Full disclosure first, I am not a distributor of honey, nor a packer or wholesaler.....just a hobbyist who will some day grow into a sideliner.
It just seems funny to me that the very first thing in their literature is Pay a fee...nothing really said about purity of honey. That just causes me me raise an eyebrough, probably just my jaundiced outlook, eh:s


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## Sweet to the Soul (Sep 1, 2010)

alpha6 said:


> And this only works for those packers who want to participate and some have already opted out...so I suspect that it will last till the packers who opted out are the only ones left as they under sell the guys trying to do the right thing by pushing bad honey to the unsuspecting customer.


I may be wrong, but I think the point of the whole thing is that the players who join the program, play by the rules and are inspected, will be able to label their product True Source Honey. That is only step one and means nothing until step 2.

Step 2 is to educate consumers about what "True Source Honey" means and more importantly, what honey not bearing the "True Source Honey" label could mean.

The label Organic is an example. Over time, the organic producers have done a great job of educating consumers. They do not always push the point of the benefits of organic, but more often educate the consumer as to the problems with non-organic. I own a small bulk food store and we carry organic and non-organic baking supplies, dried fruits, etc. We have some customers like myself who will use organic when the price is close, but who are not averse to picking up non-organic. We have other customers who will select nothing but organic no matter the price. Therefore, the organic producers have developed a regular customer base at a better price than the non-organic.

I think the public would respond quickly if they knew they were not necessarily getting pure honey or that it was contaminated China honey. Those who cheat the system are robbing the beekeeper, the consumer and the honest packers. I would love seeing some of the cheating packers get busted in addition to the importers. 

Just my rambling thoughts
Kevin


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## irwin harlton (Jan 7, 2005)

"I would love seeing some of the cheating packers get busted in addition to the importers. "

You can bet in the next court case over "funny Honey" ALL the t's will be crossed and the i's dotted. A broker told me if all this funny honey should disappear out of the marketplace the price for real honey would be over 2.00 /lb


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## simplyhoney (Sep 14, 2004)

As a pesamistic optimist I don't believe in evil honey packers. More often than not they are "good ol boys,". That find themselves in a capitalistic hole that they have dug over the past few decades. Starting,often times, with very humble beginnings but bypassing sustainablity and moderation to chase the dollar and the self described title of biggest packer in the u.s.
They don't mean harm anyone and most go to great lengths to ensure that the honey they buy is unadulterated with elaborate in house laboratories staffed by chemists. However, the simple fact is the markup on honey sucks at this volume and every little consumer nuance,such as the post holiday sugar lul, starts affecting the books. 
The funny honey conundrum follows so many U.S. Corporate models that one has to wonder if it isn't just another cog in a machine of problems.
The bright side:
There is a movement a-foot that is happening from bottom up. The gen x crowd is now in their prime, the 30 somethings that have started a family and quickly becoming the #1 consumer group in America. Mostly first generation interneters who use the web, not only for socializing,but to learn. They Actually do research about food they buy. They blog.they chat. Most realize that,when it comes to honey, you get what you pay for.
True source seems like a good idea, but I am afraid it will go the way of the "organic" label and be used as a marketing tool rather than a clearing house. It will be superphalis when the major players realize that they must market and pack for this crowd and the beekeeper 
will follow suite when high grade honey becomes the standard.


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## simplyhoney (Sep 14, 2004)

BTW the value of honey has been held back by cheap imports for years. If you look at the cost of food (honey inparticular)relative to living expenses in most other countries, you will see that it is very expensive. $2.00/pound is still cheap honey.


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## Mike Snodgrass (Mar 11, 2010)

2.00 a lb is real cheap honey! Printing your own labels that look excatly like True Source Honey and ORGANIC!!!!! Ill bet is even cheaper! How many believe this is nothing more than petting the dog before sending him outside?:no:


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## irwin harlton (Jan 7, 2005)

Well I think this is a genuine attempt by the industry to clean itself up,better done by the industry from within than having some government dept coming in and costing a lot more. There was a meeting in Chicago in January,anyone go, want to report?
Fees were established , an independent auditor appointed, its all on the True Source web site.Some packers were absent, clearly they are the culprits causing the problems, two price system. Maybe it was only one particular packer that wasn't there?


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## Tom G. Laury (May 24, 2008)

Being able to source commodities, in other words trace them to their origins, is a big deal nowadays in food products. In general, these trails back to producer help increase the value of the product.


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