True Honey Buzz

10/06/2024

In a new report, the FDA has found that 14% of honey on the shelves is intentionally adulterated. This means that when you go to the store to buy honey, more than one in ten of those jars labelled "honey" aren't actually honey!

To learn more about the FDA report, click the link below.

The FDA has released a report on an investigation into imported honey and the intentional adulteration of it for economic gains. The report from the Food

22/05/2024

Honey fraud is a global issue! Right now, Hungarian beekeepers are being threatened by imports of adulterated honey from Ukraine and China.

Check out this video from RadioFreeEurope for more information!

Beekeepers in Hungary say their "survival is at stake" because of plunging domestic honey prices. Some say the recent government decision to lift the ban on Ukrainian honey imports will hurt local producers. But others point to a bigger issue: cheap, "fake" honey flooding the market from China.

06/05/2024

The History of Honey Fraud

The international traffic of adulterated honey has increased to unsustainable proportions in recent years. Peter Awram is at the forefront of attempts to stamp this out through rigorous honey testing and database development.

Fake honey is not a new problem. In 1889, Dr. Harvey Wiley of the US Department of Agriculture testified before the US Congress that honey was the most adulterated food in the country. Regulations that were introduced to combat the problem were reasonably effective, but through the 20th century there were scares and bad publicity involving heavy metals (lead) or antibiotics (chloramphenicol). Regulators in Europe, the US and everywhere reacted with bans and import duties. An initial anti-dumping duty was levied on Chinese honey in 1994 by the US> Then in 1997 China had an outbreak of American Foulbrood (AFB) in their hives and used chloramphenicol, a banned antibiotic that causes aplastic anaemia in humans. When the industry recovered the next year, China started exporting high levels of honey to take back market share, resulting in a new anti-dumping duty on China that prevented sales to the US. Prices shot up in North America because of the shortage of honey, and probably kickstarted the current explosion in fake honey.

With the bans and anti-dumping duties, China suddenly had a huge surplus of honey and no place to sell it. The altered honey was diverted through other countries such as Vietnam and India where the export rules were not as strict, relabelled as honey from those countries, and distributed throughout the world. This practice is referred to as trans-shipping. In 2008, federal agents in the US uncovered $80 million in evasion of shipping bans and anti-dumping duties through trans-shipping. This is the largest successful food fraud prosecution in history. Yet it appears to be a drop in the ocean. Honey fraud has continued to accelerate at an alarming rate.

Note. This is an excerpt from an article originally published in the BBKA News in June 2020.

24/04/2024

We talk about honey fraud a lot, but sometimes you have to wonder: What really is honey fraud? Here's a quick overview of honey fraud to understand just how serious an issue it is.

Honey fraud is part of a larger trend towards food adulterations. Honey is one of the hardest hit foods. It’s the third most faked food in the world, with between 450-750 million tonnes of fake honey being sold each year.

In Canada, an estimated 22% of honey sold is adulterated. That’s 1 in every 5 jars.

Common substances used in honey adulteration are high fructose corn syrup, beet sugar, sucralose, rice syrup, sugar water, and essential oils.

Common forms of adulteration specific to honey include mislabeling the floral or geographic origin, replacement with syrups and other substances, and intentional excessive sugar feeding of bees.

19/04/2024

Food fraud is a billion dollar industry. The FDA estimates that food fraud accounts for 1% of food production, making between 10-15 billion a year.

Check out the top 10 most faked foods below! Which one surprised you the most?

17/04/2024

A meta-analysis of tests studying possible health benefits of honey has come up with some pretty big results. These tests point towards regular honey consumption leading to multiple different health benefits.

Overall, regular honey consumption seems to reduce cholesterol, lower blood sugar, and reduce risk of prediabetes.

If you want to check out the results yourself, or get a more in-depth look at these health benefits, we’ve linked the article below!

PROSPERO registration number CRD42015023580.

12/04/2024

Did you know that honey has different flavours depending on its floral source? These differences can be slight or substantial, depending on how similar the sources are.

Here in British Columbia, we have three different types of honey just from different berries! Blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries all grow here and all produce their own unique flavour of honey.

Take a look at the graphic below to learn more about each type of honey! Which one do you like best? Or if you haven't tried them, which one do you want to try most?