Honey: Is it the Most Dangerous Thing in Your Pantry?

Sure, honey is one of the most natural, delicious sweeteners that money can buy, but this golden, sticky liquid has a few well-known and lesser-known dangers that you should know about before drizzling it over your cereal or toast.

According to this article on The World's Healthiest Foods website, dangerous substances that are found in our modern environment can also show up in honey. Because honey is made by bees and flowers, both of which are very susceptible to environmental pollution, it's reasonable to expect that certain chemicals might appear in honey. But, what kinds of chemicals have been found in honey, and just how dangerous are they?

Heavy Metals
The Food Standards Agency in the UK routinely measures and monitors the levels of heavy metals found in foods, and discovered varying amounts of aluminum, arsenic, cadmium, copper, iron, lead, manganese and zinc in honey and other food samples. The agency has established limits for how much heavy metal is allowed to be in honey before it is considered unsafe, and an FSA report, published in 2007, established that the levels of heavy metals found in honey did not exceed what is allowed by law, and so the honey is still considered safe to eat. The bottom line? There are trace amounts of heavy metals in honey, but not enough to do you harm, according to the FSA. I have heard that similar conclusions have been drawn by the USDA about American honey and food samples, but was unable to locate a comparable report.

Pesticides
Bees collect pollen from flowers to make honey, and many flowers are treated with fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides, whose chemicals can be found in the pollen. Like the heavy metals mentioned above, pesticides have only been found in honey in trace amounts, and are not at levels that are considered dangerous by government agencies.

Antibiotics
Traces of man-made antibiotics have been discovered in honey samples, mostly from bee colonies and honey products from China. Unlike the heavy metals and pesticides, the antibiotics found in the honey are not allowed to be in food in any amount, and the honey in question was banned from being sold until it could test negative for antibiotic contamination. No similar reports surfaced in the United States, so unless your honey is imported from China, you have nothing to worry about.

The amounts of the above chemicals in honey varies greatly depending on the type of honey, and the location of the hives. Because foods in America are so well regulated by our government, none of these chemicals are going to reach dangerous levels, and you can rest easily, knowing that your honey is probably very safe. It is important, however, as an educated consumer, to be aware of the chemicals that are very likely present in your honey, and to be mindful of the ways that environmental pollution is affecting the things we eat and drink.