{"id":94,"date":"2025-03-13T11:38:44","date_gmt":"2025-03-13T11:38:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fhcus.com\/?p=94"},"modified":"2025-08-15T17:35:21","modified_gmt":"2025-08-15T17:35:21","slug":"legislation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fhcus.com\/?p=94","title":{"rendered":"New Legislation Beekeepers and Producers"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON \u2013\u00a0<\/strong>Today, U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) introduced the\u00a0Honey Integrity Act<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>to protect domestic honey producers and commercial beekeepers\u00a0from being undercut by counterfeit foreign honey imports. Senator Tuberville\u2019s legislation builds on his previous efforts to protect our domestic producers and increase healthier food options for consumers.<\/p>\n

\u201cHoney is one of nature\u2019s greatest antioxidants, providing many wonderful health benefits,\u201d\u00a0<\/strong>said Senator Tuberville.\u00a0\u201cAmerica\u2019s beekeepers and honey producers work tirelessly to ensure that we have access to pure, quality honey. But sadly, the lack of uniform standards is creating loopholes that foreign honey producers are increasingly exploiting. Our honey producers deserve a level playing field, and Americans deserve to know exactly what they\u2019re putting in their bodies. I\u2019m proud to introduce this legislation to secure our<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>nation\u2019s\u00a0honey industry, support our domestic beekeepers and increase food transparency for Americans.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Senator Tuberville\u2019s\u00a0legislation<\/a>\u00a0would instruct the FDA to create a standard identity for honey and require the HHS Secretary to report enforcement against adulterated\/misbranded honey to Congress. AgriPulse first\u00a0reported<\/a>\u00a0on the bill\u2019s introduction.<\/p>\n

Complete text of the bill can be found\u00a0here<\/a>.\u00a0U.S. Representatives\u00a0Greg Steube (R-FL-17)\u00a0and Jimmy Panetta (D-CA-19) are\u00a0leading\u00a0the\u00a0companion legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m introducing the Honey Integrity Act in the House to crack down on the mislabeling and sale of fake products to American consumers,\u201d\u00a0<\/strong>said Rep. Steube.\u00a0\u201cThis bill establishes clear standards for honey and accountability for bad actors without adding more government red tape. Families have the right to know the honey they are buying is real. I thank Senator Tommy Tuberville for leading on this issue in the Senate and Rep. Jimmy Panetta for his support in the House. We must protect American honey producers and make sure consumers get the quality produce they pay for at the grocery store.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

The\u00a0Honey Integrity Act\u00a0<\/em>is supported by the American Honey Producers Association,\u00a0American Beekeeping Federation (ABF), Alabama Commercial Beekeepers Association (ACBA),\u00a0and the Alabama Farmers Federation\u00a0(ALFA).<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Alabama Farmers Federation and its members extend their gratitude to Senator Coach Tuberville and Representative Steube for their leadership in protecting consumers\u2019 right to purchase pure honey,\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0said Blake Thaxton, Director of Alabama Farmers Federation\u2019s Bee and Honey Division.\u00a0\u201cBuying local honey directly from beekeepers remains the best way to ensure consumers receive 100% real honey. However, this bill is a meaningful step toward building consumer confidence that the honey they buy is unadulterated.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Alabama Commercial Beekeepers Association (ACBA) thanks Senator Tuberville for his dedication to the consumers and the producers of Alabama,\u201d\u00a0<\/strong>said Robert Russell, Vice President of the Alabama Commercial Beekeepers Association.\u00a0\u201cAdulterated honey products have been a huge problem in our markets for many years. Consumers who think they are making healthy decisions by buying honey, have been misled\u00a0by the products labeled as honey yet filled with corn syrup and rice syrup. This issue has damaged the beekeepers of Alabama as well. The beekeepers work diligently to provide a premium product to the market while unscrupulous packers cut prices by fooling the consumers into buying fake honey. Real honey is unable to compete in pricing with adulterated syrups. The people of Alabama deserve so much better and Senator Tuberville has stepped up to protect all of us. We look forward to working with the Senator and the FDA to protect our industry and the health of our state.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe American Honey Producers Association applauds Senator Tuberville, Representative Steube and\u00a0Representative Panetta for introducing the Honey Integrity Act\u201d\u00a0<\/strong>said Steven Coy, President of the American Honey Producers Association.\u00a0\u201cFor years, America\u2019s beekeepers have sought adequate protections against adulteration of the honey supply on behalf of consumers and beekeepers alike. \u00a0This legislation takes critical steps forward in addressing adulteration so that consumers can be confident that their honey is natural, wholesome and healthy. \u00a0The legislation will also help level the playing field for honest American beekeepers who have had to compete against adulterated products for too many years. \u00a0We look forward to working with Congress and FDA in implementing this common sense legislation to restore fairness in the marketplace and certainty for the consumer.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cAs a commercial beekeeper from Montana and president of the American Beekeeping Federation (ABF) a national organization representing beekeepers in all 50 states from hobbyists to commercial operations, on behalf of ABF we strongly support the \u00a0\u201cHoney Integrity Act,\u201d<\/strong> said Patty Sundberg, President of the American Beekeeping Foundation. \u201cABF is grateful to Senator Tuberville for his sponsorship of this critical legislation.\u00a0We look forward to working with Senator Tuberville on the need for this legislation to protect U.S beekeepers and U.S. consumers from economically adulterated honey from entering the country.\u00a0ABF looks forward to working closely with the Senator Tuberville and all other senators to see this much needed legislation become law.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

BACKGROUND:<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

As Alabama\u2019s voice on the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee, Senator Tuberville is committed to protecting Alabama\u2019s farmers, foresters, and producers from undue foreign interference and competition.<\/p>\n

Senator Tuberville is aggressively\u00a0targeting<\/a>\u00a0snapper poaching from cartels with the reintroduction of the\u00a0Illegal Red Snapper and Tuna Enforcement Act<\/em>\u00a0that would crack down on illegal red snapper and tuna imports.<\/p>\n

Senator Tuberville repeatedly fought against the Biden administration\u2019s attempts to undermine domestic catfish imports by giving undue advantages to Vietnamese catfish imports. The administration eventually\u00a0reversed<\/a>\u00a0course after months of pressure from Senator Tuberville and his Republican colleagues.<\/p>\n

Senator Tuberville recently\u00a0re-introduced<\/a>\u00a0the\u00a0Prioritizing Offensive Agricultural Disputes and Enforcement Act\u00a0<\/em>to help eliminate trade barriers that harm American farmers and businesses, leading to higher prices for consumers, and ensure domestic producers can compete on a level playing field.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, Senator Tuberville reintroduced the\u00a0Protecting America\u2019s Agricultural Land from Foreign Harm Act<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0Foreign Adversary Risk Management (FARM) Act<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>to curb foreign involvement in our agriculture supply chains.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON \u2013\u00a0Today, U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) introduced the\u00a0Honey Integrity Act\u00a0to protect domestic honey producers and commercial beekeepers\u00a0from being undercut by counterfeit foreign honey imports.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1575,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[17,18],"class_list":["post-94","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fruit-varieties","tag-organic","tag-sweet"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fhcus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fhcus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fhcus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fhcus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fhcus.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=94"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/fhcus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1568,"href":"https:\/\/fhcus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94\/revisions\/1568"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fhcus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fhcus.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=94"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fhcus.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=94"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fhcus.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=94"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}