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FDA SEIZES ADULTERATED HONEY

At the request of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), U.S. Marshals seized adulterated imported bulk and finished product honey from Hoyts Honey Farm, Inc. in Baytown, Texas.

U.S. Marshals seized 266 drums of honey (each containing 639 pounds of bulk honey) and five totes (each containing a net weight of 3,000 pounds) after FDA tested and confirmed the presence of an unapproved food additive, chloramphenicol. In accordance with the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, food products that contain chloramphenicol, an antibiotic, are adulterated and are not permitted to be sold in or imported into this country.

This seizure is the third enforcement action against similarly contaminated honey in six months. The first such seizure occurred in August 2002 in Louisiana. The second seizure occurred in January 2003 when U.S. Marshals served a warrant on T.W. Burleson and Son, Inc. in Waxahachie, TX. The continued monitoring of food production and distribution at many levels has enabled FDA to detect this adulterated honey since the agency learned of the presence of chloramphenicol in imported honey.

Chloramphenicol is a broad-spectrum antibiotic drug used to treat life-threatening infections in humans, usually when other alternatives are not available. The use of this antibiotic is limited because of its potentially life-threatening side effect, idiosyncratic aplastic anemia. For the very small number of the population susceptible to this side effect, exposure to chloramphenicol could be serious or life threatening Because of the current uncertainty regarding the dose-response relationship between chloramphenicol ingestion and aplastic anemia, it is not possible to define a safe level for the presence of this antibiotic in food products.

The agency will continue to detain or seize any honey imports that contain chloramphenicol to ensure that this product is not released for human or animal consumption in the United States.

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