Confused in honey found in Indian markets, failed in 10 out of 13 brand tests

New Delhi: Fearing corona, this news may come as a shock to you if you are consuming honey to boost immunity and lose weight. The Center for Science and the Environment (CSE) has discovered that well-known brands of honey are heavily adulterated. It has been revealed that sugar syrup is mixed in honey. This fact has come up in laboratory tests in India and abroad.

Tests are conducted in India as per the guidelines of FSSAI (Food Safety and Standards Authority of India). It can then contain a mixture of C3 and C4 (based on natural sources of sugar) sugars. But for the last 4-5 years large quantities of fructose syrup solution have been imported from China, which is not caught in this test, the CSE found.

The solution is called 'all pass' in the industry and is blended into pure honey, CSE said on Wednesday. The sample which was 50 per cent mixed passed the Indian test. The CSE took 22 samples of branded honey from the market and sent it abroad for nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy tests. The NMR test is valid worldwide but is not performed in India. Only 3 out of 13 brands passed the test and only 5 out of 22 samples were successful.

CSE's food researchers selected 13 brands, large and small, for processing and selling raw honey in India. Samples of these 13 brands of honey were first tested at the CALF (Center for Analysis and Learning in Live Stock and Food) of the Gujarat-based National Dairy Development Board. In which all the top brands (except Apis Himalaya) passed the purity test. While some small brands failed the test to detect C4 sugar (sugar made from sugarcane). The CSE later sent samples of the same brands to Germany for NMR testing. Almost all brands failed in this test. Lab tests resulted in sugar syrup being mixed in the honey.

Releasing the four-month study, CSE Director General Sunita Narayan said on Wednesday, "This food fraud is more vicious and complex than the confusion we discovered during the 2003 and 2006 soft drink investigations. It is more harmful to health than anything we have discovered so far." . "

According to a CSE report, companies use modified sugar syrup imported from China. Which easily passes the C3 (sugar made from rice or beet) and C4 (sugar syrup made from corn and sugarcane plants) tests. This sugar syrup made in China is not caught in the FSSAI certified test in India.

CSE Findings

- Up to 50% adulteration in honey is passed in India as per FSSAI 2020 criteria.

- Sugar syrup was found to be adulterated in 77% (17) of 22 brand honey samples.

- Samples from Dabur, Patanjali, Baidyanath, Zandu, Hitkari and Apis Himalaya failed in NMR test.

- Safola, Markfed Sohna and Nature's Nectar (1 out of 2 samples) all passed the test.