Honey adulteration

Honey adulteration means replacing or diluting real Honey with cheap sugar syrups, or masking its botanical or geographical origin. Under Directive 2001/110/EC nothing may be added to honey. In 2021 the European Commission ran the coordinated action “From the Hives” to assess how widespread honey adulterated with sugars is on the market.

Of 320 samples of imported honey, 46 % were suspected of not complying with the directive, against 14 % in 2015–2017. This is suspicion, not proven breach: according to the Commission, analytical methods are not yet sensitive enough for low and intermediate levels of adulteration. 57 % of operators had exported at least one suspicious consignment; 44 EU operators were investigated and 7 sanctioned. The findings included sugar syrups, additives and colourings, forged traceability and removal of pollen. Directive 2024/1438 tasks the Commission with adopting harmonised methods to detect adulterated honey by 14 June 2028.

Why this matters to you: adulteration cannot be seen by eye, and a simple home test, a drop of honey in cold water, only raises suspicion: according to FAO, honey that dissolves quickly may be adulterated or very moist. Read the label: country of origin, the full name and, where there is one, a protected name with a numbered seal, as with Kraški med.