According to an investigation by European authorities, about half of the honey imported into the European Union is adulterated, mainly due to the addition of sugar syrups.

The EU imports almost 40% of the honey consumed in member countries, making it the second largest importer in the world after the US.

A recently published study by the European Anti-Fraud Office (Olaf) shows that of 320 samples recently tested in 16 member countries, almost 46% were suspected of violating EU rules. This percentage is much higher than the 14% of the last 2015-2017 study.

In particular, 74% of 89 honey shipments from China were found to be suspicious, as were almost all imports from Turkey (14 out of 15).

The falsification is carried out by adding sugar syrups (from rice, wheat or beets) to reduce the price, but the report also mentions the use of dyes.

The situation worries EU member states: in January, about twenty of them, including France, asked the European Commission to tighten transparency requirements in the expected revision of the existing 2001 rules.

Unfair competition

“This alarming result proves that the European market allows fraudsters to market their counterfeit products,” responded Foodwatch, a consumer advocacy NGO.

“There is unfair competition from outside the EU, mainly from China,” said Yvan Henon, a beekeeper with 300 hives in Uhlen in northern France. “It’s not real honey, and that’s why the price drops dramatically.”

I. Enon said that although the sales of his farms were good, the prices he received from wholesalers had fallen in recent years. It charges wholesalers at least €3.50 per kilo of honey, but imported honey can be bought for less than €1 per kilo, putting pressure on prices.

Of the 21 samples taken in France, only 4 turned out to be “pure honey”. In Germany, which accounts for a third of European imports, half of the 32 samples taken were found to be suspicious.

Foodwatch is calling for a “harmonized methodology for detecting fraud” and, above all, for the “urgent removal of opacity” regarding the composition of honey on a case-by-case basis.

“Today’s rules equalize honey producers and producers of honey mixtures,” says a statement prepared by Slovenia and supported by 19 other states.

According to the Financial Times

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