Of the 320 batches of honey tested by the Joint Research Centre, the Commission’s official laboratory, 147 are found to be counterfeit, ie 46% of the samples analyzed. INGRAM/PHOTONONSTOP
When bees go, honey isn’t really honey anymore. It’s a massive scam that has just been uncovered by the European Commission. “A significant part of the honey imported into Europe is suspected of being fraudulent, but this honey often goes undetected,” the services of the European executive say in a report published on Thursday, March 23.
Almost half of the honey from non-European countries is cut with sugar syrups from rice, wheat or sugar beet, according to the sampling and monitoring work carried out by Brussels. Any addition is prohibited according to European regulations. Of the 320 batches of honey tested by the Joint Research Centre, the Commission’s official laboratory, 147 are considered fraudulent. That is 46% of the analyzed samples. This represents a significant proportion of the honey consumed in Europe: with 175,000 tonnes of imported honey per year (ie around 40% of consumption), the Old Continent is the second largest honey importer in the world after the United States. The pinned “fake honeys” come mainly from China and Turkey.
Fake traceability information
The European Commission’s Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety coordinated this extensive control action within the European Union in cooperation with 16 European countries as well as Norway, Switzerland and the United States European Anti-Fraud Office. The samples were taken between November 2021 and February 2022 at the borders – mainly in European ports. Investigators also highlighted the use of additives and coloring agents to falsify the honey’s true botanical origin and to disguise the honey’s true geographic origin, as well as falsifying traceability and pollen removal information.
Germany alone accounts for around a third of European honey imports from third countries. Half of the 32 samples taken in Germany were suspected of being counterfeits and were primarily intended for the German market. France is not left out. Of the 21 samples taken in France, only four were real honey. Five batches of suspected fraudulent honey were destined for the French market, while a dozen non-compliant batches were destined for Belgium, Germany, Greece, Spain and the Netherlands.
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The suspicious batch rate is significantly higher than during the previous European control plan, which was carried out between 2015 and 2017. Only 14% of the samples analyzed were non-compliant at the time. “In the past, fraudsters have diluted honey with sugar syrups made from corn starch or sugar cane,” explains the Foodwatch association at the beginning of a petition for more transparency in food fraud. Knowing that they were being watched, they replaced them with syrups made mainly from rice, wheat or sugar beets, which could be detected using the new methods developed by the European Commission laboratory. »
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