Honneygate - 77% of samples found adulterated with sugar syrup.

Honneygate - 77% of samples found adulterated with sugar syrup.

- Imported Chineese fructose adulterated with honey  can bypass testing standard -
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By Bijay Mishra
Bhubaneswar, 03 -12-2020

Investigations  with laboratory studies in India and Germany revealed rampant adulteration in honey sold by major brands in India -- 77% of samples found adulterated with sugar syrup. The  nefarious adulteration business of honey designed to bypass purity tests has massive implications for our health during COVID-19 times.
The investigation done by " Center of Science & Environment"( CSE) confirmed that only three out of 13 brands pass the internationally accepted Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (NMR) test. Indian standards for honey purity cannot detect the adulteration. This is because Chinese companies have designed sugar syrups to bypass these standards .This food fraud severely compromises public health in the troubled times of COVID-19. Indians today are consuming more honey because they believe in its intrinsic goodness – antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties – and to build immunity against the virus. But if it is adulterated honey, what we are really eating is sugar, which will add to the challenge of overweight and obesity, which in turn makes us more vulnerable to severe COVID-19 infection. The CSE study found that  almost all brands of honey being sold in Indian markets are adulterated with sugar syrup.

  Releasing a new CSE investigation report  on honey adulteration, Sunita Narain, Director General , CSE  told that , “It is a food fraud more nefarious and more sophisticated than what we found in our 2003 and 2006 investigations into soft drinks; more damaging to our health than perhaps anything that we have found till now– keeping in mind the fact that we are still fighting against a killer COVID-19 pandemic with our backs to the wall.This overuse of sugar in our diet will make it worse".

“This is immensely worrying, as it will further compromise health in the troubled times of COVID-19. We know that households today are consuming more honey because of its intrinsic goodness – antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties. Our research has found that most of the honey sold in the market is adulterated with sugar syrup. Therefore, instead of honey, people are eating more sugar, which will add to the risk of COVID-19. Sugar ingestion is directly linked to obesity, and obese people are more vulnerable to life-threatening infections,” added Narain.

  Samples of some top honny brands were first tested at the Centre for Analysis and Learning in Livestock and Food (CALF) at National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) in Gujarat.Almost all the top brands (except Apis Himalaya) passed the tests of purity, while a few smaller brands failed the tests to detect C4 sugar – call it basic adulteration using cane sugar. But when the same brands were tested using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) – laboratory tests currently being used globally to check for such modified sugar syrups – almost all big and small brands failed. Out of the 13 brands tests, only three passed the NMR test, which was done by a specialised laboratory in Germany.

“What we found was shocking,” says Amit Khurana, programme director of CSE’s Food Safety and Toxins team. “It shows how the business of adulteration has evolved so that it can pass the stipulated tests in India.Our concern is not just that the honey we eat is adulterated, but that this adulteration is difficult to catch. In fact, we have found that the sugar syrups are designed so that they can go undetected.”

"Honey samples from leading brands such as Dabur, Patanjali, Baidyanath, Zandu, Hitkari and Apis Himalaya, all failed the NMR test "- said a press realease of CSE

Only 3 out of the 13 brands – Saffola, MarkfedSohna and Nature’s Nectar (one out of two samples) -- passed all the tests.

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), in the past year, has directed importers and state food commissioners that golden syrup, invert sugar syrup and rice syrup imported into the country was being used for adulteration of honey. Says Khurana: “It remains unclear how much does the food regulatorreally know about this murky business.He adds: “The three imported sugar syrups named by FSSAI in its directive – goldensyrup, invert sugar syrup and rice syrup -- are either not imported in these names or are not indicted for adulteration. Instead, Chinese companies are mostly exporting this syrup as fructose to India. So, why did FSSAI put out what is clearly an erroneous order? We are not certain.”

CSE tracked down Chinese companies which produce  fructose syrup that can beat C3 and C4 tests also exported to India. Chinese companies informed CSE that even if 50-80 per cent of the honey is adulterated with syrup it would pass all stipulated tests.

CSE also tracked down factory that manufactures syrup to adulterate honey to Jaspur in Uttarakhand. It found that adulterated samples with 25 per cent and 50 per cent sugar syrup passed the test of purity. " Sugar syrups exist that can bypass the 2020 FSSAI standard for honey,” says Khurana.

In view of this CSE urged the Government  to stop the import of syrups and honey from China. It urged to strengthen enforcement in India through public testing so that companies are held responsible. Government should get samples tested using advanced technologies and make this information public so that consumers are aware and our health is not compromised. It will also hold companies responsible.Ensure that every honey company is required to trace back the origins of the honey – from the beekeeper to the hive.

Sunita Narain told that “We are consuming honey – more of it to fight the pandemic. But honey adulterated with sugar will not make us well. It will, in fact, make us even more vulnerable. On the other hand, what should also concern us is that the loss of bees will lead to a collapse of our food system – bees are critical for pollination; if honey is adulterated, then not only do we lose our health, but also the productivity of our agriculture.”