Food fraud involving honey

Honey fraud has taken place on a large scale in Europe. This is the latest food scandal in a short period of time. According to Foodnavigator, a website that reports on food and research, labels on honey jars have been falsified. What did the fraudsters do? They mixed honey with cheap sugar syrup and sold it as pure, natural honey. 

According to beekeeper Theo Coolen, honey is by definition pure and natural due to the strict European legislation and inspections, but when additional ingredients are added, it may not legally be called honey. In this case, additional ingredients were added on a large scale without mentioning this on the label. Fraud, in other words.

Foodnavigator’s test revealed that as much as one third of all honey in Europe has been diluted with sugars. A total of 2,237 samples were taken in 28 different member states between June and November 2015.

This is disappointing news for consumers, because which honey can you still buy with confidence without being ripped off? Beekeeper Theo has the solution:”Visit a beekeeper and buy your honey there. If someone is so passionate about what they do, they will be less inclined to cheat.”

Text: Nora van den Heuvel
Image: Stadsboeren