SAVANNAH, Ga. — Behind the immaculate gray walls of the Customs and Border Protection’s laboratory here stands a cabinet containing three plastic vials filled with a sticky, yellowish substance. Honey, or so an importer has claimed.
乔治亚州萨凡纳——在美国海关及边境保卫局（Customs and Border Protection，简称CBP）实验室一尘不染的灰墙后面，立着一个柜子，里面有三个塑料小瓶，装满了一种淡黄色的粘稠状物质。那是蜂蜜，或者说至少一家进口商说那是蜂蜜。The lab’s task: Determine whether the samples are adulterated with sweeteners or syrups, and, if they really are mostly honey, figure out where it originated. If the honey comes from China, often the case, the entire shipment from which the samples came may be subject to additional taxes.
该实验室的任务是，确定这些样品中是否掺杂了甜味剂或糖浆，如果真的主要是蜂蜜，弄清楚它们的原产地。如果这些蜂蜜像通常的情况那样，来自中国，那么被抽样检查的整批货可能都要被额外征税。The chemists here regularly test a wide range of imported goods, but they specialize in analyzing agricultural imports. With remarkable precision, these scientists can tell you where the peanuts in your peanut butter came from and where the mangoes in your jam were grown.
这里的化学工作者常常会检测品类广泛的进口商品，但他们的专长是分析进口的农产品。这些科学家能极其精确地告诉你，你花生酱中的花生来自哪里、果酱中的芒果是在哪里种植的。
But honey, No. 0409 on the 2015 Harmonized Tariff Schedule, has been a focal point for the lab and the source of a long-running international food scam that has challenged even the existing forensic technology.
但在2015年的美国海关关税编码(Harmonized Tariff Schedule)中编码为0409的蜂蜜，却是该实验室关注的重点，也是一场存在已久的国际食品骗局的根源。这场骗局挑战着现有的取证技术。Americans consume an average of 1.4 pounds of honey a year, about three and a half six-ounce bottles. Some 70 percent of it is imported. In 2001, the Commerce Department enacted a stiff tariff on Chinese honey, nearly tripling the import duty, after American producers complained that Chinese competitors were dumping their products on the market.
美国人平均每年食用1.4磅（约合0.6千克）蜂蜜，大致相当于六盎司容量的瓶装蜂蜜的三瓶半。美国大约70%的蜂蜜依赖进口。2001年，在美国厂商投诉中国竞争对手在向市场倾销产品后，美国商务部针对中国蜂蜜征收了严厉的关税，将进口关税几乎提高到了原来的三倍。Then, honey imports from other countries spiked, including from nations not known for large bee populations. According to the American Honey Producers Association, Malaysian beekeepers, for example, have the capacity to make about 45,000 pounds of honey annually, but the country has exported as much as 37 million pounds of honey to the United States in a year.
于是，从其他国家进口的蜂蜜数量飙升，包括一些并不以蜜蜂种群巨大而闻名的国家。比如，美国蜂蜜生产商协会(American Honey Producers Association)称，马来西亚养蜂人每年的蜂蜜产能大约为4.5万磅，但该国一年出口给美国的蜂蜜多达3700万磅。
As it turned out, Chinese honey was being shipped through ports such as Shanghai, or Busan, South Korea, and slapped with labels from other nations to skirt American duties. The practice is known as transshipment, or “honey laundering.” Some of it was not even real honey, but a mix that included corn and rice sweeteners.
事实是，中国蜂蜜经由上海或韩国釜山等港口运走，再被贴上显示其来自其他国家的标签，从而逃避美国关税。这种做法被称作转运，或者“洗蜂蜜”。其中一些甚至不是真正的蜂蜜，而是一种掺了玉米和大米甜味剂的混合物。In an effort to stanch the flow of illicit honey, chemists at the lab here have tested thousands of samples pulled from barrels and containers at ports across the Southeast. In 2008, the lab demonstrated with about 90 percent accuracy that honey imported from Thailand, the Philippines and Russia had originated in China.
为了阻止违法蜂蜜的流入，该实验室的化学工作人员在东南亚各港口，从桶中和集装箱里抽取了数千份样本，并进行了检验。2008年，该实验室以90%的精确度断定，从泰国、菲律宾和俄罗斯进口的蜂蜜，原产地其实是中国。The evidence helped federal prosecutors build a case against two large American importers who were suspected of buying illegal Chinese honey to avoid more than $180 million in duties.
相关证据为联邦检察官准备起诉两家美国大型进口商的行动提供了帮助。这两家进口商涉嫌采购非法的中国蜂蜜，从而规避超过1.8亿美元（约合11亿元人民币）的关税。But this kind of detective work is daunting. At the C.B.P. lab, the analytic work takes place inside what’s known as the “country of origin” room. Inside are standing metal shelves filled with bags and plastic totes of imported honey, along with peanuts, shrimp, garlic, mangoes and other foods.
但这种侦查工作颇为艰巨。在CBP的实验室里，分析工作要在名为“原产国”的房间里进行。房间里摆放着金属架，上面放满了袋子和塑料提包，里面装着进口的蜂蜜，以及花生、小虾、大蒜、芒果等食品。On a recent Tuesday, Robert Redmond and Christopher Kana, two of the lab’s analytic chemists, took a small honey sample and added an acid to digest it. The result looked like muddy water.
前不久的一个周二，该实验室的两名分析化学家罗伯特·雷德蒙(Robert Redmond)和克里斯托弗·卡纳(Christopher Kana)拿了一小份蜂蜜样品，并在其中加入了一种酸。结果，那份样品看上去就像泥水一样。In recent years, scientists have demonstrated that subtle chemical variations in many foods, including honey — undetectable to the tongue or the naked eye — can give a strong indication of where it originated. The C.B.P.’s analytic work depends, in part, on these naturally occurring geographic “tracers.”
近年来，科学家已证明，在包括蜂蜜在内的许多食物中，通过舌头和肉眼均无法察觉的细微化学变化，可以充分表明其原产地是哪儿。CBP的分析工作，在一定程度上靠的就是这些自然出现的地理“标记”。Once a sample is diluted, the liquid is pumped into a device called a mass spectrometer that is about the size of an office copier. Inside, a nebulizer turns the sample into a fine mist over heated argon, a process that yields a distinct signature of trace elements.
样品稀释得到的液体会被注入一台叫做质谱仪的设备，该设备和办公室里的打印机差不多大。质谱仪内部有一个喷雾器，可以将样本变成的细小喷雾，这些喷雾经过加热的氩气，就可以检测出用于追踪来源的元素成分。The spectrometer can measure chromium, iron, copper and other elements to several parts per quadrillion. Each combination of trace metals reflects the composition of certain soils: The elements were taken up by flowering plants and then foraged by bees.
质谱仪对铬、铁、铜等元素的检测精度可以达到千万亿分之一的数量级。微量元素的构成反映了土壤的成分：这些元素被开花的植物吸收，然后被蜜蜂采集。Soils vary from region to region, and by statistically comparing the presence of some 40 different elements to a reference database collected by C.B.P. attachés and employees, the scientists can ascertain the probable origins of many samples.
各地的土壤并不相同，通过将约40种不同元素的含量，与CBP的一个参照性数据库进行数据上的比较，科学家们得以检验出许多样本可能的来源。这个数据库中的信息都是该机构的员工收集来的。In late 2012, Mr. Redmond traveled to Taiwan and India to collect and test honey. His findings were then added to the database, and now lab chemists can compare honey arriving in the United States and said to be from those countries.
2012年末，雷德蒙曾到台湾和印度收集和检测蜂蜜样本，他的发现后来被纳入这个数据库中。这样一来，实验室的化学家就可以检验那些进入美国，并且自称来自这两个地区的蜂蜜了。But it’s only the latest maneuver in a scientific cat-and-mouse game that has stretched on for years.
但这只是科学界一场旷日持久的猫鼠游戏中最新的发展。At first, the detection of transshipped honey relied on a simple test for an unapproved antibiotic, chloramphenicol, discovered in Chinese honey. Carson Watts, former director of the C.B.P. lab in Savannah, said, “Very shortly after word got out that we were using chloramphenicol to identify Chinese honey, they stopped using it.”
起初，要查出转运蜂蜜，只能靠一个简单的检测，确定蜂蜜中是否含有违规抗生素成分氯霉素，因为在中国的蜂蜜中曾经发现过这种成分。萨凡纳的CBP实验室的前主任卡森·沃茨(Carson Watts)说，“我们用氯霉素来辨别中国蜂蜜的消息传出后不久，他们就不再使用氯霉素了。”Around 2006, unscrupulous importers appeared to be cutting honey with high-fructose rice syrup or disguising cheap, pure honey as an artificial blend. (At the time, the import duty applied to artificial blends that were more than 50 percent honey by weight.)
2006年前后，一些不法进口商似乎在蜂蜜中掺入了高果糖大米糖浆，或者用廉价的纯蜂蜜来冒充人工混合的蜂蜜。（当时，进口关税只适用于蜂蜜含量超过50%重量的人工混合蜂蜜。）The problem? Reliably determining the ratio of rice syrup to honey is nearly impossible.
但问题在于，想要确定大米糖浆和蜂蜜的可靠比例几乎是不可能的。“An importer could present goods to Customs and say, ‘This is 90 percent rice syrup, 10 percent honey,’ and Customs really has no way of knowing,” said Michael J. Coursey, a lawyer in Washington who has represented American honey producers.
“进口商可以把货物交给海关，然后说，‘这里面有90%的大米糖浆，10%的蜂蜜，’海关真的没有办法查证，”代理过美国蜂蜜制造商的华盛顿律师迈克尔·J·库西(Michael J. Coursey)说。He added, “For two or three years, C.B.P. was pretty much the Dutch boy with its finger in the dike.”
他接着说，“在两三年的时间里，CBP的检验能力实际上力不从心。”In 2011, the government accused three companies of importing millions of dollars’ worth of rice fructose blend that in fact was mostly taxable honey. The importers said the product was less than 50 percent honey.
2011年，美国政府指控称，三家公司进口的价值数百万美元的大米果糖混合蜂蜜，实际上都是应该征税的蜂蜜。这些进口商声称，产品的蜂蜜含量不到50%。The scientists at the Savannah lab swung into action, producing evidence that pollen abundance in the blends showed the substance to be mostly honey. But defense lawyers challenged the research on scientific grounds.
萨凡纳实验室的科学家迅速采取行动，拿出了证据，用混合蜂蜜中的花粉含量表明，其主要成分是蜂蜜。但被告律师们却用科学上的理由，对研究结果提起了反驳。“It’s all well and good to say you need to enforce these regulations,” said Dana Krueger, who owns an independent laboratory in Chelmsford, Mass., and testified as a defense witness. “But if there’s no technology, it puts Customs in a difficult position.”
“我们需要执行这些规定，这说起来容易，”辩方证人达纳·克鲁格(Dana Krueger)说。“但如果没有技术，海关的处境就十分艰难。”克鲁格在马萨诸塞州切尔姆斯福德拥有一家独立实验室。The judge dismissed the case, and the government dropped the charges.
法官驳回了案件，政府也撤销了指控。The most sophisticated chemical analysis may have its limits. But for the moment, the food detectives are undeterred.
即使是最先进的化学分析可能也有着种种局限。但到目前为止，这些食品检测人员并没有气馁。“If it’s honey from Malaysia, then we’re testing for China,” Mr. Redmond said.
“如果蜂蜜标称来自马来西亚，我们会检测它是不是中国蜂蜜，”雷德蒙德说。