Japan rejects NZ honey at border

Very interesting reading the companies involved particularly the mysterious “Midland Aparies”

Japan rejects NZ honey with traces of weedkiller glyphosate

New Zealand honey companies had their products rejected at the border in Japan after more stringent testing was introduced for the weed killer glyphosate in January.

www.stuff.co.nz

 

[Trevor Gillbanks]

That is tricky and a fast way to slight someone's name.

 

[frazzledfozzle]

That is tricky and a fast way to slight someone's name.

yes agree it’s so dodgy I hope they find out who it is and take them to the cleaners

 

[Alastair]

Ironic some of the people who got caught out.

Me, it seems like a heckuva risk even sending honey to Japan.

The really crazy part is that the specified Japanese limit for flour, rye and buckwheat is 30ppm, but for honey is 0.01ppm.

In other words, flour, rye and buckwheat are allowed to have 3,000 times as much glyphosate in them as honey. Yet people would eat a lot more flour than they would honey, so honey is the smaller risk, they have their numbers around the wrong way.

And a contract extractor told me they have tested all their honey. They found around 30% had detectable levels of glyphosate. What surprised them was it was not mostly in the field honey, but the bush honey. Opposite to what you might expect.

 

[Wknz]

And a contract extractor told me they have tested all their honey. They found around 30% had detectable levels of glyphosate. What surprised them was it was not mostly in the field honey, but the bush honey. Opposite to what you might expect.

Where would bush honey pick up glyphosphate from?

 

[Alastair]

That's what they are wondering. They do not spray around their hives so it's somewhere in the environment but they don't know where.

 

[tristan]

The really crazy part is that the specified Japanese limit for flour, rye and buckwheat is 30ppm, but for honey is 0.01ppm

because honey really doesn't have a limit, 0.01ppm is the default limit for anything that doesn't have a set limit.

What surprised them was it was not mostly in the field honey, but the bush honey.

we have be bashing about a few theory's on that. i wonder if its to do with pine blocks being sprayed out before planting.
trouble is, there is very few places where there is no spraying at all. even the roads/tracks get sprayed.

 

[Alastair]

You guys are contract extractors also, is that your finding also? More glyphosate in bush honey?

 

[tristan]

You guys are contract extractors also, is that your finding also? More glyphosate in bush honey?

i don't know what customers results are and could not tell you if i did.

for our own its been surprising. the areas i would think we would see some we don't. the areas we don't expect (bush) we do.
some farm areas i would expect to because they spray out a paddock every year. but around some farms where they are to cheap to use it we have found some.
also one site had none, but the site 400m away had a little. that doesn't make much sense.

i recall talking to a spraying contractor and roundup was 99% of what they used even on gorse (there is cheaper more effective stuff to use on gorse). makes me wonder if they have poured so much on thats its still around in places. (with gorse you need to drown it in roundup for it to kill it)

 

[Sailabee]

That's what they are wondering. They do not spray around their hives so it's somewhere in the environment but they don't know where.

One possible answer could be that there is a compound in a native species that mimics glyphosate in the tests, which until now hasn't been diagnosed.

 

[Jacob]

One possible answer could be that there is a compound in a native species that mimics glyphosate in the tests, which until now hasn't been diagnosed.

That's extremely unlikely. The testing method essentially precludes any other compound giving a false positive.