According to a recent Food Safety News Analysis, most honey sold in grocery stores doesn’t meet the international standard for honey. An analyzation of more than 60 jars and plastic bears in 10 states and D.C. shows that there was no pollen to be found in products labeled “honey.”

Why is this important? Because without the pollen there is no way to determine it came from a legitimate source. A previous investigation by Food Safety News stated that it is likely that 1/3 of the honey sold in the U.S. is likely smuggled from China and could be tainted by illegal antibiotic and heavy metals. If you care where your honey comes from you may not want to buy from drugstores such as Walgreens, Rite-Aid, and CVS Pharmacy where no pollen was found in 100% of samples.

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Lucia Phan has a Bachelors Degree from the University of California, Berkeley in Food & City Culture and Environmental Economics. She is the founder of Banana Slug Edibles, where she bakes specialty cakes and cupcakes for patients in Orange County & Los Angeles. In her free time she likes to collect recipes and will forever be searching for the best chocolate chip cookie recipe known to man.