The next time you sweeten your coffee or tea, Saskatchewan’s 130 commercial beekeepers would like you to reach for honey instead of sugar.
Confident in the superiority of their product, and tired of imports that pretend to be domestic, the Canadian Honey Council and its provincial members have launched a campaign to encourage people to eat 100 percent pure Canadian honey.
They say consumers may not be aware of a loophole in the grading and labelling systems.
Tim Wendell, president of the Saskatchewan Beekeepers’ Association, said just because a container of honey says Canada No. 1 doesn’t mean the honey is actually from Canada.
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At a Regina news conference last week he held up two containers that contained honey from Argentina and honey from Australia that might have originated in China.
Canadian Food Inspection Agency regulations allow imports that meet certain standards to put Canada No. 1 on their labels.
“We produce more honey than we can eat in Canada yet the marketplace now contains cheaper imports masquerading as Canadian honey,” Wendell said. “Price might be a factor for some consumers but lack of knowledge of the product may be another reason.”
He told reporters that honey producers have had no luck in asking that the regulations be changed.
The association called on all levels of government in the province, including rural municipal, civic, provincial and federal, to request Canadian-made honey as sweeteners at banquets, meetings and special events.
The members also urged their fellow grain growers and cattle producers to buy Canadian honey as well.
“Don’t simply read the label,” said Wendell. “Turn the product around and see its origin.”
The association introduced Pierre the Bear, the council’s mascot, during the news conference. He has been enlisted to encourage people to Bee Canadian, Eat Our Honey.
Saskatchewan beekeepers produced about 25 million pounds of honey this year from canola, alfalfa, sweet clover and borage. Canadian annual production is typically about 80 million lb.
Earlier this year, beekeepers established a development commission to raise money for research and market development. It is financed through a checkoff of 50 cents per colony.
Canadian honey is exported mostly to the United States but also to Europe and Japan.
