Manitoba honey producers aren't too sweet on how their products — and honey products from other countries — are being labelled.

In April, Keystone Agricultural Producers passed a resolution from the Manitoba Beekeepers' Association to push the government to change current federal honey-labeling standards.

Many beekeepers feel Canada's current labeling system doesn't differentiate well enough between all-Canadian honey and honey blended from multiple sources.

"As long as honey is packaged in Canada and contains at least 50 per cent Canadian honey, it gets the designation of Canada Number One White, and there's really no way of telling by that 'Canada' on the front that it contains anything that's not Canadian," explains Dauphin-area producer and Manitoba Beekeepers' Association president Allan Campbell.

He says some companies will choose to import product from countries like Argentina or China and blend it with Canadian honey. He thinks current honey labeling in Canada is misleading because consumers don't know the complete origins of the product unless they read the fine print on the back of the product.

Part of Campbell's concern is food safety standards of honey exports from other countries.

"We put a lot of hard work into the food safety system in the honey industry," he says, mentioning the effort Canadian producers put into Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) inspections and other Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) programs.

"As soon as you blend (Canadian honey) with questionable honey... from countries that don't have the same standards, there's a food safety issue right off the top, but what about the other issues? Like, Canadian beekeepers uphold and pay fair wages and, you know, make sure workplaces are safe, but when you're buying from these other countries, there are definitely places that have human rights issues and workplace safety issues that we wouldn't support as a consumer if we knew what we were buying," he says.

However, CFIA National Manager for Food Import Programs and Policies, Daniel Burgoyne, explains imported honey does, in fact, have to match up to the same standards of honey domestically produced in Canada.

He also says while the CFIA itself doesn't have standards on honey imports when it comes to issues like workplace safety, he says there are import expectations on products coming into Canada.

"It wouldn't be different from honey than for, you know, t-shirts or... smartphones that come from other countries," he says.

When it comes to the honey-labeling system — of which the CFIA is in charge — Burgoyne says it's part of their normal process to listen to producer and stakeholder feedback, such as petitions, when looking at changing policy.

Campbell feels Canadian honey producers haven't seen any traction in changing honey-labeling policies. He says the Canadian honey industry has been fighting this issue for about 40 years. Campbell can pick out a few issues to do with the process of change, but in the end, he doesn't know why the problem has persisted so long without a solution.