Bizarre: half of the honey in Europe is fake

Can we really not trust anything anymore? I still vividly remember my disappointment when I found out that the wasabi you get with your sushi is simply horseradish in 99.99 percent of cases, but now the next disappointment is looming: there is such a thing as honey fraud. All over Europe.

320 types of honey from various countries were tested, and no less than 46 percent of them were not honey at all, but (partly) cheap sugar syrup. Well nowww, what scammers.

This honey fraud has been going on for some time

Remarkably, ten types of honey from the United Kingdom were tested, and all ten failed the test — meaning they turned out to be ‘fake honey’. This was also investigated there in 2021, unfortunately with the same result. So be careful on your next city trip to London; there’s a very good chance you’ll simply be served sugar syrup with your mint tea.

But we’re not safe outside England either, by the way, because these ten varieties were also sold in other countries. However, the problem of this honey fraud in Europe could lie in China: a lot of the honey comes from there, and it is common knowledge that they sometimes tamper with that sugar syrup.

In total, honey from twenty European countries was tested. The criterion was that honey should be completely pure and not diluted with other products (such as sugar syrup) or additives. The annoying thing is that the Netherlands did not participate, so for now we don’t know what the situation is with honey fraud here. Hey European Commission, could you test us too? Because many of us are still traumatized by horseradish-gate. You can read the full report here.

Also read:

• Recipe: stuffed pitas with halloumi and honey 
• Forage your lunch: you can find these edible flowers and herbs along the roadside
• Take your salad to Michelin-star level

Source: European Commission