I have been forwarded this from my sister who lives out of Australia.
Disgusting business practice, they should close their business.
Making profit when you know it can harm people and defending it must be the lowest of businessmen/women.
Sadly I used to buy this brand in the past for my family.
Please read the article and spread the news so you love ones are not affected.
https://kangaroocourtofaustralia.com/2016/09/17/australias-c…
Mod: Changed title to reflect accuracy
Probably a more credible source here: http://www.afr.com/news/capilano-wants-gag-order-on-honey-ac…
According the article, Capilano branded honey is 100% Australian, but another brand owned by Capilano has a mixture of local and imported honey. I think if you only use Capilano branded honey, you should be ok.
On a separate note, honey in general contains a toxin from a weed's flowers called the Patterson's Curse in small quantities. Ironically, organic honey has been found to have higher concentration. That being said, this is probably not new, so if you are concerned about this, you can always give up honey. :)
Without really knowing the merits of this, the linked article states.
The world dumps its toxic honey on Australia then Capilano through sales are dumping it on ordinary Australians. Capilano Honey are sneaky and sell under brands Allowrie, Smiths, Barnes and Wescobee.
So it is those brands that contain imported honey, rather than the main Capilano brand.
taking an article from a site called "kangaroo court of australia" is not the best source of information.
it is undeniable that Capilano uses both domestic and foreign honey blends in some of its products.
but that article stinks of shoddy journalism and scare mongering. and sensationalism. and clickbait.
like quoting mulvanys facebook page with "…Fairfax media reported samples of blended Australian honey contained high rates of dangerous alkaloids."
OMG "high rates of dangerous alkaloids" sounds bad.
what is meant by "high rates"?
what are "alkaloids"?
how are alkaloids dangerous?
I love how hearsay and conjecture can form the basis of solid argument.
I love this gem -
In 2004: “Authorities in Canada have recalled two batches of blended Australian and Argentinean honey. They say the honey contained antibacterial agents banned in food production.“ (Click here to read more)
OMG, this sounds like Australian honey must be terrible and poison.!!!!!
but when you click the link it actually explains how further testing revealed no traces of the antibacterial agent. and that previously Britain had banned capilano honey for this same reason however a british court found the claims to be false and awarded damages to capilano.
I'm not saying shoddy business definitely does not occur in the honey industry, however this article is the worse type of journalism.
Agree. And believe me, as a honey fan I pretty much want Capilano to go down.
Bsaically, I see no reason for Australia to import honey when it is a significant exporter of the same very high quality product. Capilano are simply profiteering on unaware buyers, by (ab)using the absolute minimum labelling standards when it comes to honey production in Australia. What they are doing is not technically illegal, but it is ethically dishonest. Australian consumers do need to educate themselves as to just what they are buying, and not simply buy the cheapest honey - because Capilano awaits you if do you.
Simplest way to get the best honey - drive an hour or two out of the city, find a local market and stock up. I'd trust just about any local producer over a corporation importing what we make in abundance, at very high quality.
hopefully they advise whether the product contains GMO's
So last year I did a case study on Capillano - which led me to investigate why they would import honey from other countries when they initially started out as a family business of father and son beekeepers packaging honey from their own hives.
Actually carwashhair - why do you want Capillano to "go down"? Your ignorance is a stand out when you stated that you see no reason for why they should import honey. You obviously have no idea about the bee industry and those that work in it (Apiarists). You think that there is Australian honey in abundance. In fact, the supply of Australian honey is limited and the problem lies in the fact that bees are dying out. There is a shortage of bees globally. And this is so serious for the agricultural industry - because bees also pollenise flowers which gives us the food that we eat. If there are less bees to do this - then there is less of this pollenisation happening naturally. A whole industry exists where contracted bee keepers transport their hives to areas along the River Murray - for instance the Almond industry in Australia would not exist if bees in their hives weren't brought in once Almond flowers appeared on the trees.
So the main offenders are overseas countries that have use poisons on crops to get rid a a certain best, only to not realise soon enough that it has wiped out whole colonies of bees. Whilst China bees are tested and contain these poisons - the UK has only in the last few years banned certain toxic sprays occurring onto food crops.
I think that we would all be very surprised what is brought into Australia that actually have very dubious growing standards and contain harmful poisons and substances.
Lol. I get annoyed sometimes, as I have an uncle who posts regular scare mongering articles from dodgy websites on Facebook to promote his organic business. It is just irresponsible for people to try to profit from scare mongering and spreading misinformation.
Note also from the linked site is a story in the Fin Review that says:
"In 2014 Mr Stokes also sued a blogger Shane Dowling over a post on his Kangaroo Court of Australia website, which resulted in Mr Dowling being found in contempt of court."
Capilano may or may not be dodgy, but this site definitely is.
what are "alkaloids"?
how are alkaloids dangerous?
You'd need to talk to a chemist about it to get a concrete answer, but generally speaking these are the components of plants (and animals) that give them their kick.
e.g. caffeine is an alkaloid component in coffee (stimulant). Morphine and codeine in Opium (opiate pain killers), quinine from cinchona bark (i.e. the kick in tonic water), nicotine from tobacco etc.
As to how alkaloids can be dangerous, you need to understand what alkaloid we're talking about. All of the above are toxic in high enough doses, but then again so is water.
In respect to the article, it's entirely possible that a bee using pollen from an opium poppy will transfer some opiate alkaloids into the honey.. But enough to make someone high?
exactly. that writer and the article are utilising peoples ignorance and feeding off their paranoia/fear .
e.g. dihydrogen monoxide in the water
dihydrogen monoxide is dangerous stuff.. With a LD50 of 0.00009Mg/Kg when compared to arsenic being 13mg/Kg
@airzone: they use dihydrogen monoxide in industrial cleaning products and nuclear reactors, and coca-cola - a leading brand of softdrink which is drunk by the children- also contains measurable levels of dihydrogen monoxide.
@altomic: You know, it's also a major component of acid rain. I'm glad that I only give my kids water to drink, rather than poisoning them with that horrific chemical.
If I remember correctly (from possibly an ABC Country Hour or similar) there are actually concerns over Australian sourced honey due to the high levels of pyrrolizidine alkaloids from Salvation Jane/Patterson's Curse.
http://www.foodstandards.gov.au/consumer/chemicals/patersons…
So buying honey from a "heath food" shop is not necessarily the answer!
OMG this is mad. How can this be kept in the dark for so long? I've been buying this brand for ages.