Fla. honey rule ensures purity of the sweet nectar

[July 14, 2009]  TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- Anyone in Florida who tries to pass off honey as 100 percent pure when it has additives or other ingredients could find themselves in a sticky situation.

Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner Charles Bronson announced Monday that honey that has additives and chemicals in it must be clearly labeled as a blended product. Consumers must be told what else is in the honey.

Bronson says says that in the past, honey has sometimes been cut with water or sugar, or been contaminated with insecticides and antibiotics.

The regulation takes effect Tuesday and says  honey labeled as pure cannot contain anything other than the "natural food product resulting from the harvest of nectar by honeybees."

[Associated Press]

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