British beekeepers are calling for a mandatory requirement on retailers to mention the country of origin on cheap honey imports from China and other nations after claims that a major part of the global supply is bulked out with sugar syrup.
Lynne Ingram, chair of the Honey Authenticity Network UK, a group of beekeepers campaigning for better information for shoppers, said the government should implement its own tough new rules to ensure better transparency and the “current labelling rules are hiding what people are eating”.
“The consumer needs to be able to make an informed choice about what they are buying, and it’s impossible for them at the moment,” The Guardian quoted Ingram, who is also the master beekeeper at Wesley Cottage Bees, near Bridgewater in Somerset.
Noteworthy here is that honey has overtaken jam in recent years to become the UK’s most popular spread. Sales rose to record high last year as consumers bought 30,000 tonnes of honey in 2020 worth £130 million, according to figures from the data and research company Kantar.
About a third of the UK’s honey imports come from China, but it almost never appears on the label of supermarket jars as the country of origin, reports said. The UK also imports significant amounts of cheap honey from India, Ukraine and Vietnam.
Recent reports suggest that while the foreign-produced honey is the cheapest, some of the global supply is bulked with cheaper sugar syrup. Accusations have been raised especially on Chinese honey, which also tends to dominate the global market.
The Institute of Apicultural Research in Beijing stated in a research paper in March last year high-quality honey is subjected to “sugar adulteration” through the addition of cheaper sweeteners for better margins.
In fact, some reports claim that such sugar syrup makers in China market their produce by claiming that their product can beat the most common tests used by food safety watchdogs.
The UK is the world’s biggest importer of Chinese honey, which can be one sixth of the price of the honey produced by bees in Britain.
The European Union is now considering new rules to improve consumer information for honey and ensure the country of origin is clearly identified on the jar.
“It is essential consumers have trust in the food they eat, and food labelling should be accurate and not misleading in any way. We are working with partners to understand the emerging scientific evidence on honey testing to ensure all honey can be fairly and accurately tested for contents and origin,” The Guardian quoted a government spokesperson’s comment on the matter.
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