Did you know the U.S. produces more than 200 million pounds of honey annually? And altogether, Americans eat more than 400 million pounds of honey a year! Honey and honey bees are big business in the world of importing.
Be wary of importing honey to US borders that comes from China. Chinese beekeepers use antibiotics to stop a bacterial infection from ruining the honey industry decades ago. The problem, though, is that the antibiotic, known as Chloramphenicol, is outlawed in the U.S.
The drug still finds its ways onto U.S. shelves though. China can ship its honey imports to other countries before the honey is then shipped to the U.S. under a different country of origin. Importers should check labels closely for honey imports and make sure they have one single ingredient: Honey.
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) requires the following on its honey labels to pass import inspection:
The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) does not monitor the transfer of bees as long as they are moving within the United States. However, bees are not allowed to be imported to Hawaii from the continental United States. Canada also does not allow the importation of honey bees from the United States.
You can never import the following to the U.S. from other countries:
If you obtain the proper permit, you are allowed to import royal jelly to the U.S. for bee feeding for scientific reasons.
Importation of live bees involves the queens, plus package bees or attendants only. This means a queen plus three to five pounds of worker bees that are packaged appropriately. The export certificate must outline any diseases, subspecies or parasites that were found during an inspection. Shipments will be refused entry if they contain alarming diseases such as the Thai sacbrood virus
You should always check the General Shipping Requirements for Honey Bee Importing to make certain both the country and the bees you seek to import into the U.S. are on the list. Follow the following honey bee shipping requirements to make your importing bees to USA borders is a successful one: