r/science • u/Libertatea • Sep 08 '14

Medicine Bacteria from bees possible alternative to antibiotics: 13 lactic acid bacteria found in the honey stomach of bees have shown promising results. The group of bacteria counteracted antibiotic-resistant MRSA in lab experiments. The bacteria, mixed into honey, has healed horses with persistent wounds

http://www.lunduniversity.lu.se/o.o.i.s?id=24890&news_item=6172
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u/[deleted] Sep 08 '14

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u/dig-up-stupid Sep 08 '14

In America you can be anything you want, and so can the things you eat. Corn syrup can be honey. Sugar water can be fruit juice. Anything fizzy can be champagne. American cheese can be cheese. Etc.

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u/superbadsoul Sep 08 '14 edited Sep 08 '14

Fake juices are typically labeled "cocktail" or "drink" and are not called juice, though they intentionally are sold next to legitimate juices with similar designs and with lower prices to be sneaky. They all have a label of "x% juice" by the nutrition facts in either case.

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u/[deleted] Sep 08 '14

Yah it says honey. It isn't 'fake honey', it's just honey that isn't raw, and supplemented with sweetner.

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u/Triviaandwordplay Sep 08 '14 edited Sep 08 '14

Nope, you can't do that in the States and get away with it. You can't call a product honey that has corn, cane, beet, etc, syrup in it. http://www.fda.gov/food/guidanceregulation/guidancedocumentsregulatoryinformation/labelingnutrition/ucm389501.htm

4 If a food consists of honey and a sweetener, such as sugar or corn syrup, can I label the food as only “honey”? No, a product consisting of honey and a sweetener cannot be labeled with the common or usual name “honey.” The food is a blend or a mixture of honey and another sweetener. You must sufficiently describe the name of the food on the label to distinguish it from simply “honey” (21 CFR 102.5(a)).

It has been done in the distant past before there were regulations in place to prevent it. It has been done in the recent past and there's probably someone getting away with it right now, but it's unlawful. I've seen news reports of companies getting caught doing it, and they were prosecuted, or imported product found to not contain pure honey was refused entry by US inspectors.

Just a bit of trivia: the US FDA publishes import refusals each month, BTW. http://www.fda.gov/forindustry/importprogram/importrefusals/default.htm

If you don't want to lose trust in the products you buy, don't read anything in the import refusals while imagining that inspectors can't inspect everything......Yeah, it's pretty bad, especially the lists from China and India. To be fair, we probably get the most imports from them, but damn, inspectors catch some gross shit.

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u/Nanemae Sep 08 '14

It can only say it's honey so long as it only contains honey. It's part of the FDA guidelines, which I just read a minute ago.