现金股利保障倍数:测试显示商店中出售的多数“蜂蜜”不是蜂蜜

The results show that the pollen frequently has been filtered out of products labeled "honey."

测试结果显示花粉常常被过滤掉然后标注“蜂蜜”。

The removal of these microscopic particles from deep within a flower would make the nectar flunk the quality standards set by most of the world's food safety agencies.

从花朵深处移除这些微小的粒子会使花蜜无法达到世界上大多数食品安全机构设立的质量标准。

The food safety divisions of the  World Health Organization, the European Commission and dozens of others also have ruled that without pollen there is no way to determine whether the honey came from legitimate and safe sources.

世界卫生组织食品安全部门、欧洲委员会和许多其它机构同样规定没有花粉就没办法检测蜂蜜来源是否合法和安全。

In the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration says that any product that's been ultra-filtered and no longer contains pollen isn't honey. However, the FDA isn't checking honey sold here to see if it contains pollen.

在美国，食品药品管理局（FDA）称经过超滤后不含有花粉的任何产品都不是蜂蜜。但是，FDA并没有检查国内出售的蜂蜜是否含有花粉。

Ultra filtering is a high-tech procedure where honey is heated, sometimes watered down and then forced at high pressure through extremely small filters to remove pollen, which is the only foolproof sign identifying the source of the honey. It is a spin-off of a technique refined by the Chinese, who have illegally dumped tons of their honey - some containing illegal antibiotics - on the U.S. market for years.

超滤是蜂蜜在加热过程，有时是稀释过程中的一个高科技环节，在高压下通过极细密的滤网滤走花粉，花粉是唯一能确定蜂蜜来源的工具。超滤是中国人改进的一种有效技术，他们将数吨蜂蜜通过不合法的渠道投向美国市场，有些蜂蜜中还含有违法的抗生素。

Food Safety News decided to test honey sold in various outlets after its earlier investigation found U.S. groceries flooded with Indian honey banned in Europe as unsafe because of contamination with antibiotics, heavy metal and a total lack of pollen which prevented tracking its origin.

Food Safety News purchased more than 60 jars, jugs and plastic bears of honey in 10 states and the District of Columbia.

早前的调查发现美国食品商品里充斥着而被欧洲禁止的不安全印度蜂蜜，这些蜂蜜含抗生素、重金属，并且不含花粉，这使得我们无法追溯其源头。《食品安全新闻》决定测试不同商店出售的蜂蜜。

《食品安全新闻》购买了60多瓶蜂蜜，有玻璃瓶包装、积压壶包装和塑料瓶包装，这些蜂蜜产自10个州和华盛顿特区。

The contents were analyzed for pollen by Vaughn Bryant, a professor at Texas A&M University and one of the nation's premier melissopalynologists, or investigators of pollen in honey. 

蜂蜜中的花粉由Vaughn Bryant进行分析检测，他是德克萨斯农机大学（Texas A&M University）的教授，也是国家周围蜂蜜孢粉学家，研究蜂蜜中的花粉。

Bryant, who is director of the Palynology Research Laboratory, found that among the containers of honey provided by Food Safety News: 

Bryant是孢粉学研究实验室的主任，他发现《食品安全新闻》提供的蜂蜜样品中：

    76 percent of samples bought at groceries had all the pollen removed, These were stores like TOP Food, Safeway, Giant Eagle, QFC, Kroger, Metro Market, Harris Teeter, A&P, Stop & Shop and King Soopers.

  在食品杂货店买的蜂蜜中有76%的样品花粉都被移除了，这些商店包括TOP食品，Safeway，Giant Eagle，QFC，Kroger，Metro市场，Harris Teeter，A&P，Stop & Shop和King Soopers。

  药店如华格林（译注：Walgreens，美国第一大连锁药店），来德爱（译注：Rite-Aid，美国第二大连锁药店）和CVS（译注：美国最大的药品零售商）出售的蜂蜜100%都不含有花粉。

  量贩店如Costco，Sam's Club，沃尔玛，塔吉特（译注：Target，美国第二大零售商）和H-E-B出售的蜂蜜有77%花粉都被过滤掉了。

 Smucker、麦当劳和肯德基等小型个人包装的蜂蜜产品花粉100%被移除。

    100 percent of the honey packaged in the small individual service portions from Smucker, McDonald's and KFC had the pollen removed.

    Bryant found that every one of the samples Food Safety News bought at farmers markets, co-ops and "natural" stores like PCC and Trader Joe's had the full, anticipated, amount of pollen. 

 Bryant发现《食品安全新闻》在农贸市场、合作社和“天然”食品商店如PCC和乔氏（Trade Joe's）购买的蜂蜜样品均含有期待中全部分量的花粉。

And if you have to buy at major grocery chains, the analysis found that your odds are somewhat better of getting honey that wasn't ultra-filtered if you buy brands labeled as organic. Out of seven samples tested, five (71 percent) were heavy with pollen. All of the organic honey was produced in Brazil, according to the labels.

如果你在几个主要的连锁超市购买蜂蜜，分析发现如果你选购的蜂蜜品牌标有“有机”字样，你的蜂蜜很可能比较好，因为没经过超滤。在7个样品的测试中，五个样品（71%）都含有大量花粉。

The National Honey Board, a federal research and promotion organization under USDA oversight, says the bulk of foreign honey (at least 60 percent or more) is sold to the food industry for use in baked goods, beverages, sauces and processed foods.  Food Safety News did not examine these products for this story.

国家蜂蜜协会，是由美国农业部监管的联邦研究和推广机构，称大量的外来蜂蜜（起码超过60%）被食品行业用于烘焙食品、饮料、酱料和加工食品。《食品安全新闻》在此没有检测这些产品。

Some U.S. honey packers didn't want to talk about how they process their merchandise.

美国的一些蜂蜜分装工人不愿意透露他们是如何加工蜂蜜产品的。

One who did was Bob Olney, of Honey Tree Inc., in Michigan, who sells its Winnie the Pooh honey in Walmart stores.  Bryant's analysis of the contents of the container made in Winnie's image found that the pollen had been removed.

Olney says that his honey came from suppliers in Montana, North Dakota and Alberta. "It was filtered in processing because North American shoppers want their honey crystal clear," he said.

Olney说他的蜂蜜供给源来自蒙大拿州、北达科塔州和亚伯达（译注：加拿大西部的一个省）。“在加工的过程中蜂蜜经过过滤，因为北美消费者喜欢看起来晶莹剔透的蜂蜜，”Olney说。

Silverbow蜂蜜的分装工人补充道：“食品杂货店希望加工蜂蜜的货架期更长。”

However, most beekeepers say traditional filtering used by most will catch bee parts, wax, debris from the hives and other visible contaminants but will leave the pollen in place.

但是，大多数养蜂人说传统的过滤法能滤掉蜜蜂、蜂蜡、蜂巢的残骸和其它可见的污染物，但不会滤掉花粉。

Ernie Groeb, the president and CEO of Groeb Farms Inc., which calls itself "the world's largest packer of honey," says he makes no specific requirement to the pollen content of the 85 million pounds of honey his company buys.

Ernie Groeb是Groeb农场有限公司的总裁，该公司自称是“世界上最大的蜂蜜分装商，”他说公司购入的8500万磅蜂蜜中对花粉含量没有特别要求。

Groeb sells retail under the Miller's brand and says he buys 100 percent pure honey, but does not "specify nor do we require that the pollen be left in or be removed."

Groeb在Miller品牌下零售，他说他购买的是100%的纯蜂蜜，但是没有“强调或者要求花粉需被保留还是移除。”

He says that there are many different filtering methods used by beekeepers and honey packers.

他说养蜂人和蜂蜜分装工人使用的过滤方法有很多种。

"We buy basically what's considered raw honey. We trust good suppliers. That's what we rely on," said Groeb, whose headquarters is in Onstead, Mich.

Why Remove the Pollen?

为什么要移除花粉？

Removal of all pollen from honey "makes no sense" and is completely contrary to marketing the highest quality product possible, Mark Jensen, president of the American Honey Producers Association, told Food Safety News.

"I don't know of any U.S. producer that would want to do that. Elimination of all pollen can only be achieved by ultra-filtering and this filtration process does nothing but cost money and diminish the quality of the honey," Jensen said.

“我不知道哪个美国生产商愿意这样做。完全移除所有花粉只有通过超滤才能实现，而且过滤这一个环节只会提高成本，降低蜂蜜品质，”Jensn说。

"In my judgment, it is pretty safe to assume that any ultra-filtered honey on store shelves is Chinese honey and it's even safer to assume that it entered the country uninspected and in violation of federal law," he added.  

Richard Adee, whose 80,000 hives in multiple states produce 7 million pounds of honey each year, told Food Safety News that "honey has been valued by millions for centuries for its flavor and nutritional value and that is precisely what is completely removed by the ultra-filtration process."

Richard Adee拥有遍及多个州超过80000个蜂巢，蜂蜜年产量7百万磅，他告诉《食品安全新闻》“蜂蜜一直由其风味和营养价值评价质量，但超滤完全破坏了蜂蜜的风味和营养。”

"There is only one reason to ultra-filter honey and there's nothing good about it," he says.

他说：“超滤只有一个理由，而且超滤没有任何好处。”

"It's no secret to anyone in the business that the only reason all the pollen is filtered out is to hide where it initially came from and the fact is that in almost all cases, that is China," Adee added.

“在商业中这早已不是什么秘密了，花粉被过滤掉唯一的原因就是掩藏蜂蜜的来源，事实是这些蜂蜜大多数都产自中国，”Adee补充道。

The Sioux Honey Association, who says it's America's largest supplier, declined repeated requests for comments on ultra-filtration, what Sue Bee does with its foreign honey and whether it's ultra-filtered when they buy it. The co-op markets retail under Sue Bee, Clover Maid, Aunt Sue, Natural Pure and many store brands.

苏氏蜂蜜协会（Sioux Honey Association）是美国最大的供货商，一再拒绝评论超滤、苏氏（Sue Bee)如何处理这些外国蜂蜜，一级他们购买时这些蜂蜜是否经过超滤。苏氏旗下的零售品牌有三叶草小姐（Clover Maid）、苏大婶（Aunt Sue）、天然纯（Natural Pure）和许多商店自有品牌。

Eric Wenger, director of quality services for Golden Heritage Foods, the nation's third largest packer, said his company takes every precaution not to buy laundered Chinese honey.

Eric Wenger是全国第三大的分装商Golden Heritage食品质量部门的负责人，他说公司每次都预先警告不准购买“洗净”的中国蜂蜜。

"We are well aware of the tricks being used by some brokers to sell honey that originated in China and laundering it in a second country by filtering out the pollen and other adulterants," said Wenger, whose firm markets 55 million pounds of honey annually under its Busy Bee brand, store brands, club stores and food service.

“我们熟知那些倒爷使用的伎俩，他们将中国蜂蜜在第二个国家通过过滤掉花粉和杂质以达到“洗净”的目的，”Wenger说，他的产品在Busy Bee、商店自有品牌、会员制商店和食品供应机构每年有5500万磅的市场。

"The brokers know that if there's an absence of all pollen in the raw honey we won't buy it, we won't touch it, because without pollen we have no way to verify its origin."

“这些倒爷知道我们不会购买没有花粉的原始蜂蜜，因为没有花粉我们就没法确定其来源。”

He said his company uses "extreme care" including pollen analysis when purchasing foreign honey, especially from countries like India, Vietnam and others that have or have had "business arrangements" with Chinese honey producers.

他说当公司购买外国蜂蜜时，特别是来自印度、越南和其它那些与中国蜂蜜生产商有“商业协定”的国家，会使用包括花粉分析的“特别关照”检测方法。

Golden Heritage, Wenger said, then carefully removes all pollen from the raw honey when it's processed to extend shelf life, but says, "as we see it, that is not ultra-filtration.

Wenger说Golden Heritage接下来在加工的时候会移走原始蜂蜜中的全部花粉以延长货架期，但是他说，“正如我们看到的，不是用超滤的方法。”

"There is a significant difference between filtration, which is a standard industry practice intended to create a shelf-stable honey, and ultra-filtration, which is a deceptive, illegal, unethical practice."

“各种过滤方法之间有极大的差异，过滤是为了生产出质量稳定的蜂蜜，这遵守行业惯例标准，而超滤，是欺骗性的、不合法、不道德的行为。”

Some of the foreign and state standards that are being instituted can be read to mean different things, Wenger said "but the confusion can be eliminated and we can all be held to the same appropriate standards for quality if FDA finally establishes the standards we've all wanted for so long."

从一些外国制定的标准中可以读出不同的东西来，Wenger说“如果FDA最终会建立我们期盼已久的标准，在质量方面我们都遵守统一标准，这种疑惑也可以被消除。”

Groeb says he has urged FDA to take action as he also "totally supports a standard of Identity for honey. It will help everyone have common ground as to what pure honey truly is!"

Groeb说他已经督促FDA采取措施，因为他也“绝对支持鉴定蜂蜜的标准。这将帮助每个人都有一个真正纯净蜂蜜到底是什么样的标准。”

What's Wrong With Chinese Honey?

中国蜂蜜有什么问题？

Chinese honey has long had a poor reputation in the U.S., where - in 2001 - the Federal Trade Commission imposed stiff import tariffs or taxes to stop the Chinese from flooding the marketplace with dirt-cheap, heavily subsidized honey, which was forcing American beekeepers out of business.

中国蜂蜜在美国一直名声很差，2001年联邦贸易委员会征收了苛刻的进口税来阻止价格极度低廉、掺假严重的中国蜂蜜充斥市场，这些中国蜂蜜迫使美国的养蜂人没法经营下去。

To avoid the dumping tariffs, the Chinese quickly began transshipping honey to several other countries, then laundering it by switching the color of the shipping drums, the documents and labels to indicate a bogus but tariff-free country of origin for the honey.

为了避免倾销税，中国人很快开始将蜂蜜转运到其它几个国家，然后通过改变运输桶的颜色、伪造一个对来源国免税的文件和标签来“洗净”蜂蜜。

Most U.S. honey buyers knew about the Chinese actions because of the sudden availability of lower cost honey, and little was said.

大多数美国的蜂蜜买家知道中国这种行为，因为市场上突然出现价格更低的蜂蜜，但是很少有人把这说出来。

The FDA -- either because of lack of interest or resources -- devoted little effort to inspecting imported honey. Nevertheless, the agency had occasionally either been told of, or had stumbled upon, Chinese honey contaminated with chloramphenicol and other illegal animal antibiotics which are dangerous, even fatal, to a very small percentage of the population.

FDA——要么对此事缺乏兴趣要么缺乏资源——很少监察进口蜂蜜。然而，FDA偶尔被告知或偶然发现，中国蜂蜜含有氯霉素和其它违法的动物抗生素，这些抗生素很危险，对小部分人群而言可能是致命的。

Mostly, the adulteration went undetected. Sometimes FDA caught it.

大多数情况下掺假没被检出。有时FDA会发现。

In one instance 10 years ago, contaminated Chinese honey was shipped to Canada and then on to a warehouse in Houston where it was sold to jelly maker J.M. Smuckers and the national baker Sara Lee.

10年前的一个例子，受污染的中国蜂蜜被运往加拿大和休斯顿的一个仓库里，后来这些蜂蜜卖给了果冻制造商J.M.Smuckers和全国的烘焙商Sara Lee。

By the time the FDA said it realized the Chinese honey was tainted, Smuckers had sold 12,040 cases of individually packed honey to Ritz-Carlton Hotels and Sara Lee said it may have been used in a half-million loaves of bread that were on store shelves.

当时FDA称已经意识到中国蜂蜜受污染，Smuckers已经向丽嘉酒店（Ritz-Carlton Hotels，译注：世界级豪华酒店）售出12040件独立包装的蜂蜜，Sara Lee说这些蜂蜜可能已经被用在商店货架上50万条面包里了。

Eventually, some honey packers became worried about what they were pumping into the plastic bears and jars they were selling. They began using in-house or private labs to test for honey diluted with inexpensive high fructose corn syrup or 13 other illegal sweeteners or for the presence of illegal antibiotics. But even the most sophisticated of these tests would not pinpoint the geographic source of the honey.

最终，一些蜂蜜分装商开始担忧他们灌进塑料瓶和玻璃瓶中的东西了。他们开始使用内部或私人实验室来检测蜂蜜中是否掺有便宜的高果糖浆、13种违法甜味剂或违法抗生素。但是即使是最精确的测试也不能定位蜂蜜的产地。

Food scientists and honey specialists say pollen is the only foolproof fingerprint to a honey's source.

Federal investigators working on criminal indictments and a very few conscientious packers were willing to pay stiff fees to have the pollen in their honey analyzed for country of origin. That complex, multi-step analysis is done by fewer than five commercial laboratories in the world.

负责刑事控告的联邦调查员和一些有良知的分装商自愿为测试蜂蜜中的花粉付费。世界上只有不到五个商用实验室可以做这种复杂、多步骤的分析测试。

But, Customs and Justice Department investigators told Food Safety News that whenever U.S. food safety or criminal experts verify a method to identify potentially illegal honey - such as analyzing the pollen - the laundering operators find a way to thwart it, such as ultra-filtration.

但是，海关司法部的调查员告诉《食品安全新闻》说，美国的食品安全专家或犯罪学专家无论何时确定了一种鉴别违法蜂蜜的方法——比如分析花粉——负责“洗净”的人们总会找到对付的方法，比如超滤。

The U.S. imported 208 million pounds of honey over the past 18 months. Almost 60 percent came from Asian countries - traditional laundering points for Chinese honey. This included 45 million pounds from India alone.

过去的18个月里美国进口了2.08亿磅蜂蜜。大约有60%来自亚洲国家——“洗净”中国蜂蜜的窝点。这些蜂蜜中4500万吨来自印度。

And websites still openly offer brokers who will illegally transship honey and scores of other tariff-protected goods from China to the U.S.

而网站上仍然给从中国违法倒运蜂蜜和其它受关税保护的商品到美国的倒爷们大量机会。

FDA's Lack of Action

FDA缺乏保障行动

The Food and Drug Administration weighed into the filtration issue years ago.

FDA很多年前就权衡了过滤这个问题。

"The FDA has sent a letter to industry stating that the FDA does not consider 'ultra-filtered' honey to be honey," agency press officer Tamara Ward told Food Safety News.

“FDA给蜂蜜行业发了一封公开信，陈述FDA认为'超滤’蜂蜜不是蜂蜜，”FDA媒体官员Tamara Ward告诉《食品安全新闻》。

She went on to explain: "We have not halted any importation of honey because we have yet to detect 'ultra-filtered' honey. If we do detect 'ultra-filtered' honey we will refuse entry."

她继续解释：“我们不得不中止任何蜂蜜进口，因为我们还没有检测'超滤’蜂蜜。如果我们的确检测了'超滤’蜂蜜，我们会拒绝其入境。”

Many in the honey industry and some in FDA's import office say they doubt that FDA checks more than 5 percent of all foreign honey shipments.

一些蜂蜜行业的从业者和FDA负责进口的官员说他们怀疑FDA检查进口蜂蜜的数量不超过5%。

For three months, the FDA promised Food Safety News to make its "honey expert" available to explain what that statement meant.  It never happened. Further, the federal food safety authorities refused offers to examine Bryant's analysis and explain what it plans to do about the selling of honey it says is adulterated because of the removal of pollen, a key ingredient.

3个月以前，FDA向《食品安全新闻》承诺让“蜂蜜专家”来解释那份声明的含义。但是却一直没有行动。而且，联邦食品安全机构拒绝查看Bryant的分析报告，和对目前销售的蜂蜜都是掺假的蜂蜜的对策，因为缺少花粉这种关键的成分。

Major food safety standard-setting organizations such as the United Nations' Codex Alimentarius, the European Union and the European Food Safety Authority say the intentional removal of pollen is dangerous because it eliminates the ability of consumers and law enforcement to determine the actual origin of the honey.

主要的食品安全标准制定机构如联合国食品法典委员会，欧盟和欧洲食品安全机关说国际上认为移除花粉是很不安全的，因为这彻底销毁了消费者和法律所能确定蜂蜜实际来源的能力。

"The removal of pollen will make the determination of botanical and geographic origin of honey impossible and circumvents the ability to trace and identify the actual source of the honey," says the European Union Directive on Honey.

“移除花粉将无法坚持蜂蜜的生物性和地理性来源，并且妨碍追溯和鉴定蜂蜜的实际成分，”欧盟蜂蜜指导委员会说。

The Codex commission's Standard for Honey, which sets principles for the international trade in food, has ruled that "No pollen or constituent particular to honey may be removed except where this is unavoidable in the removal of foreign matter. . ."  It even suggested what size mesh to use (not smaller than 0.2mm or 200 micron) to filter out unwanted debris -- bits of wax and wood from the frames, and parts of bees -- but retain 95 percent of all the pollen.

法典委员会为国际食品贸易设立规则，它对蜂蜜的标准是“不允许移除花粉或蜂蜜中的特征成分，除非因移除异物而不可避免……”。它甚至建议使用滤网的尺寸（不小于0.2毫米或200微米）来过滤掉杂质——蜂蜡和蜂巢上的木头，以及蜜蜂——但保留了95%的花粉。

Food Safety News asked Bryant to analyze foreign honey packaged in Italy, Hungary, Greece, Tasmania and New Zealand to try to get a feeling for whether the Codex standards for pollen were being heeded overseas.  The samples from every country but Greece were loaded with various types and amounts of pollen. Honey from Greece had none.

《食品安全新闻》要求Bryant分析在意大利、匈牙利、希腊、塔斯马尼亚和新西兰分装的蜂蜜，希望法典对花粉的标准在海外受到关注。除了希腊，每个国家的样品都有不同类型含量各异的花粉。希腊的蜂蜜中没有花粉。

You'll Never Know

In many cases, consumers would have an easier time deciphering state secrets than pinning down where the honey they're buying in groceries actually came from.

在许多事件中，消费者解密一个国家的秘密比找出他们从商店购买的蜂蜜究竟产自哪儿更容易。

The majority of the honey that Bryant's analysis found to have no pollen was packaged as store brands by outside companies but carried a label unique to the food chain. For example, Giant Eagle has a ValuTime label on some of its honey. In Target it's called Market Pantry, Naturally Preferred  and others. Walmart uses Great Value and Safeway just says Safeway. Wegmans also uses its own name.

Bryant分析的大多数没有花粉的蜂蜜是有外部公司分装的商店自有品牌，但是却有一个独特的标签。例如，巨鹰牌蜂蜜（Giant Eagle）在一些产品的包装上有一个ValuTime的标签。塔吉特的是Market Pantry、自然之选（Naturally Preferred）等。沃尔玛使用Great Value，Safeway仍然使用Safeway做自己的品牌。Wegmans也用自己的名字。

究竟是谁灌装这些商店自有品牌的蜂蜜一直是一个谜。

A noteworthy exception is Golden Heritage of Hillsboro, Kan. The company either puts its name or decipherable initials on the back of store brands it fills.

一个值得注意的例外是堪萨斯Hillsboro的Golden Heritage公司。该公司把分装商的姓名或易识别的姓名首字母加在商店品牌的后面。

"We're never bashful about discussing the products we put out" said Wenger, the company's quality director. "We want people to know who to contact if they have questions."

“我们从来都不怕谈论我们的产品，我们希望人们知道当有问题出现时该找谁。”公司的质量负责人Wenger说。

The big grocery chains were no help in identifying the sources of the honey they package in their store brands.

大的连锁零售店对确定自有品牌的蜂蜜产地也无能为力。

For example, when Food Safety News was hunting the source of nine samples that came back as ultra-filtered from QFC, Fred Myer and King Sooper, the various customer service numbers all led to representatives of Kroger, which owns them all. The replies were identical: "We can't release that information. It is proprietary."

例如，当《食品安全新闻》试图寻找九种从QFC, Fred Myer和King Sooper公司的产品超滤得到的蜂蜜样品源头时，所有的客服电话均接通到Kroger那里，Kroger拥有这些品牌。记者得到的回复也是一致的：“无法告知。这是私有专利。”

One of the customer service representatives said the contact address on two of the honeys being questioned was in Sioux City, Iowa, which is where Sioux Bee's corporate office is located.

Jessica Carlson, a public relations person for Target, waved the proprietary banner and also refused to say whether it was Target management or the honey suppliers that wanted the source of the honey kept from the public.

Jessica Carlson是塔吉特的公关人员，也打出专利这张牌并且拒绝透露究竟是塔吉特公司还是蜂蜜供货商隐藏蜂蜜来源，不公布于众。

Similar non-answers came from representatives of Safeway, Walmart and Giant Eagle.

同样Safeway、沃尔玛和巨鹰的代表们也都不做回答。

The drugstores weren't any more open with the sources of their house brands of honey. A Rite Aid representative said "if it's not marked made in China, than it's made in the United States." She didn't know who made it but said "I'll ask someone."

Rite Aid, Walgreen and CVS have yet to supply the information.

来德爱、华格林和CVS也没有提供这方面的信息。

花粉？有人在乎吗？

Why should consumers care if their honey has had its pollen removed?

为什么消费者应当关心蜂蜜里面的花粉是否被移除？

"Raw honey is thought to have many medicinal properties," says Kathy Egan, dietitian at College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass.  "Stomach ailments, anemia and allergies are just a few of the conditions that may be improved by consumption of unprocessed honey."

“人们认为原始蜂蜜有许多药用价值，”马萨诸塞州圣十字学院的膳食学家Kathy Egan说，“食用未经加工过的蜂蜜可以缓解胃病、贫血和一些过敏症状。”

But beyond pollen's reported enzymes, antioxidants and well documented anti-allergenic benefits, a growing population of natural food advocates just don't want their honey messed with.

但是除了花粉中含有已报道的酶、抗氧化物和抗过敏物质，越来越多的天然食物倡导者不希望他们的蜂蜜混有乱七八糟的东西。

There is enormous variety among honeys. They range in color from glass-clear to a dark mahogany and in consistency from watery to chunky to a crystallized solid. It's the plants and flowers where the bees forage for nectar that will determine the significant difference in the taste, aroma and color of what the bees produce. It is the processing that controls the texture.

蜂蜜的种类越来越多。其颜色从透明到深红褐色，质地从水状到粘稠到结晶状。供蜜蜂采蜜的植物花朵种类决定了蜂产品的口感、香味和色泽。加工控制蜂蜜的质地。

Food historians say that in the 1950s the typical grocery might have offered three or four different brands of honey.  Today, a fair-sized store will offer 40 to 50 different types, flavors and sources of honey out of the estimated 300 different honeys made in the U.S.. And with the attractiveness of natural food and the locavore movement, honey's popularity is burgeoning. Unfortunately, with it comes the potential for fraud.

食品历史学家说上世纪50年代，多数商店出售3到4种牌子的蜂蜜。今天，一个中等规模的商店会出售产自美国的40到50种不同类型、风味和蜜源的蜂蜜。随着天然食物和各种支持当地食品运动对人们的吸引，蜂蜜越来越受追捧。不幸的是，随之而来的是造假。

Concocting a sweet-tasting syrup out of cane, corn or beet sugar, rice syrup or any of more than a dozen sweetening agents is a great deal easier, quicker and far less expensive than dealing with the natural brew of bees.

 加入甘蔗、玉米或甜菜、大米糖浆或者一打甜味剂比天然酿造蜂蜜容易、快捷、便宜多了。

However, even the most dedicated beekeeper can unknowingly put incorrect information on a honey jar's label.

但是，即使是最专业的养蜂人也会不知不觉地给蜂蜜标签添上错误的信息。

Bryant has examined nearly 2,000 samples of honey sent in by beekeepers, honey importers, and ag officials checking commercial brands off store shelves. Types include premium honey such as "buckwheat, tupelo, sage, orange blossom, and sourwood" produced in Florida, North Carolina, California, New York and Virginia and "fireweed" from Alaska.

Bryant检测了养蜂人、蜂蜜进口商和检查货架上商品的官方送来的将近2000个蜂蜜样品。其中包括特级蜂蜜如产自佛罗里达、加州、纽约和弗吉尼亚的“荞麦蜜、山茱萸蜜、鼠尾草蜜、橙花蜜和酸模树蜜”，还有阿拉斯加的“野莴苣蜜”。

"Almost all were incorrectly labeled based on their pollen and nectar contents," he said.

他说，“根据花粉和花蜜含量，几乎所有的产品标签都有问题。”

Out of the 60 plus samples that Bryant tested for Food Safety News, the absolute most flavorful said "blackberry" on the label. When Bryant concluded his examination of the pollen in this sample he found clover and wildflowers clearly outnumbering a smattering of grains of blackberry pollen.

Bryant为《食品安全新闻》测试的60多个样品中，风味最足的标签上写着“黑莓蜜”。当Bryant检测样品中的花粉时却发现了三叶草和野花花粉的数量远远超过了少量的黑莓花粉。

For the most part we are not talking about intentional fraud here. Contrary to their most fervent wishes, beekeepers can't control where their bees actually forage any more than they can keep the tides from changing. They offer their best guess on the predominant foliage within flying distance of the hives.

这里我们大多谈及的不是故意掺假。和他们热切的愿望相反，养蜂人无法控制他们的蜜蜂究竟在哪采蜜。他们只能最大限度地猜测蜂群的飞行距离内主要在哪里采蜜。

"I think we need a truth in labeling law in the U.S. as they have in other countries," Bryant added.

Bryant补充道，“我认为在美国我们需要一个真实的标签法，就像美国要求其他国家那样。”

FDA Ignores Pleas

FDA无视请愿

No one can say for sure why the FDA has ignored repeated pleas from Congress, beekeepers and the honey industry to develop a U.S. standard for identification for honey.

没有人知道FDA无视国会、养蜂人和蜂蜜行业一再请愿要求建立鉴定蜂蜜统一标准的确切原因，

Nancy Gentry owns the small Cross Creek Honey Company in Interlachen, Fla., and she isn't worried about the quality of the honey she sells.

Nancy Gentry在佛罗里达拥有自己的小型蜂蜜公司Cross Creek，她不担心自己出售的蜂蜜质量。

"I harvest my own honey. We put the frames in an extractor, spin it out, strain it, and it goes into a jar. It's honey the way bees intended," Gentry said.

Gentry说“我自己收获蜂蜜。我们把蜂巢放进摇蜜机中将蜂蜜摇取出来，然后装进玻璃瓶。这是蜂蜜应有的生产过程。”

But the negative stories on the discovery of tainted and bogus honey raised her fears for the public's perception of honey.

She spent months of studying what the rest of the world was doing to protect consumers from tainted honey and questioning beekeepers and industry on what was needed here. Gentry became the leading force in crafting language for Florida to develop the nation's first standard for identification for honey.

她花了几个月研究世界上其它国家如何保护消费者免受假蜂蜜的毒害，咨询养蜂人和行业这究竟需要什么措施。Gentry成为了由佛罗里达起草全国第一个鉴定蜂蜜标准的领军人物。

John Ambrose's battle for a national definition goes back 36 years. He said the issue is of great importance to North Carolina because it has more beekeepers than any other state in the country.

36年前John Ambrose为全国性定义有一场战役。他说这个问题对北卡罗来纳州州很重要因为该州的养蜂人比全国其它州的养蜂人多。

He and others tried to convince FDA that a single national standard for honey to help prevent adulterated honey from being sold was needed. The agency promised him it would be on the books within two years.

他和其他人试图说服FDA一个单独的蜂蜜国家标准可以帮助阻止销售掺假蜂蜜。FDA向他保证两年内会将这写入文件。

"But that never happened," said Ambrose, a professor and entomologist at North Carolina State University and apiculturist, or bee expert. North Carolina followed Florida's lead and passed its own identification standards last year.

“但是这一直没有写出来，”Ambrose说，他是北卡州立大学的教授和昆虫学家，养蜂专家。北卡罗来纳州跟着佛罗里达在去年通过了自己的鉴定标准。

Ambrose, who was co-chair of the team that drafted the state beekeeper association's honey standards says the language is very simple, "Our standard says that nothing can be added or removed from the honey. So in other words, if somebody removes the pollen, or adds moisture or corn syrup or table sugar, that's adulteration," Ambrose told Food Safety News.

Ambrose也是起草州养蜂人协会制定蜂蜜标准的主席，他说标准其实很简单，“我们的标准说蜂蜜中不得添加或移除任何物质。所以换句话说，如果有人移除了花粉，或加入水分、玉米糖浆、食糖，都属于掺假，”Ambrose告诉《食品安全新闻》的记者。

But still, he says he's asked all the time how to ensure that you're buying quality honey.  "The fact is, unless you're buying from a beekeeper, you're at risk," was his uncomfortably blunt reply.

Eric Silva, counsel for the American Honey Producers Association said the standard is a simple but essential tool in ensuring the quality and safety of honey consumed by millions of Americans each year.

Eric Silva是美国蜂蜜生产商协会的顾问，他说标准很简单，但是最根本的是保证每年有上百万美国人食用的蜂蜜的质量安全。

"Without it, the FDA and their trade enforcement counterparts are severely limited in their ability to combat the flow of illicit and potentially dangerous honey into this country," Silva told Food Safety News.

Silva告诉《食品安全新闻》，“如果没有这一点，严重限制了FDA和他们的贸易施行同伴与流入美国的不安全蜂蜜斗争的能力。

It's not just beekeepers, consumers and the industry that FDA officials either ignore or slough off with comments that they're too busy.

FDA忽视的不仅仅是养蜂人、消费者和行业利益，他们太忙以至于无暇回应评论。

New York Sen. Charles Schumer is one of more than 20 U.S. senators and members of Congress of both parties who have asked the FDA repeatedly to create a federal "pure honey" standard, similar to what the rest of the world has established.

超过20个美国参议院和国会成员曾一再要求FDA创建一个像世界上其他国家建立的那种联邦“纯净蜂蜜”标准，纽约参议院Charles Schumer是其中之一。

They get the same answer that Ambrose got in 1975:  "Any day now."

他们得到的回答和Ambrose在1975年得到的回应一样：“随时会。”