Sweden to use DNA testing to detect fake honey

As so many products keep shooting up in price, so unscrupulous suppliers are creating fakes, including foods and the latest to be accurately detected is honey.

Counterfeit honey is being sold as real across much of Europe

Pure honey has become increasingly more expensive, not just because of the hands on approach to collecting it, but also because the world’s honey bee population is under threat.

According to the European Professional Beekeepers Association., there is a huge amount of fake or diluted honey appearing across Europe.

A recent investigation in Germany suggested that as much as 80 per cent of all ‘honey’ sold in small German stores was counterfeit but there is a new form of DNA test available which can spot the fake honey quickly and accurately.

Previously, fakers could add extra sugar which would hide the fact that the so called honey wasn’t genuine but this new technique overcomes that problem.

Sweden wants to detect fake honey using new DNA method

Although Sweden doesn’t have its own DNA testing unit able to deal with this particular problem, the Swedish industry organization Biodlingsföretagarna wants to see Swedish honey DNA-tested across the Baltic Sea at a laboratory in Estonia.

According to the food safety divisions of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the European Commission (EU) as well as numerous other regulating bodies, in order for honey to be considered “real”, it must contain pollen.

Without the presence of pollen it’s almost impossible to determine whether the honey is from legitimate source. Honey that has gone through a high temperature and ultra-filtered process, removes all the pollen and beneficial enzymes that make honey a special and unique product.

Real honey is an increasingly expensive product to produce, as  it takes a lot of time and work from both the bees and beekeepers to produce even a moderate amount to sell, so it is by its very nature, a luxury product and not a cheap commodity.

There is no reason why it shouldn’t be possible to sell a honey syrup at a cheaper price but the important thing is to ensure that it is made clear that it is not the real thing.