US officials crack down on Chinese 'honey laundering'

US officials are grappling with a sticky and unusual problem thanks to a new type of smuggling aimed at exploiting America's high demand for imported honey.

So-called "honey laundering" involves elaborate schemes in which cheap, diluted or contaminated honey from China is brought in after being "laundered" in another country to disguise its origin and evade tariffs and health inspections.

A five-month investigation by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer newspaper found the international honey trade rife with criminal enterprises designed to take advantage of the demand for imports created by the mysterious collapse of bee colonies across America.

According to the paper, large shipments of tainted honey from China have recently arrived at Western US ports after being repackaged as a product of Russia. Tens of thousands of tons of honey also enter the US each year from countries with few bees and no record of exporting honey such as Singapore and the Bahamas. Other shipments have come via India, Malaysia, Australia, Indonesia, Thailand and even Poland.

The smugglers aim to avoid the health checks, tariffs and import fees imposed on foreign food products that deliberately undercut US domestic prices.

The US Food and Drug Administration is cracking down on honey launderers amid fears that dangerously contaminated honey could slip into the US market and harm consumers. Efforts to tackle honey laundering have also been launched in Russian, India and Australia.