It's Too Sweet, Honey!

A study has revealed that almost all honey consumed in India is adulterated with sugar syrup.

The honey you take every morning for wellbeing and as an immunity booster in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic is not as good as you thought. A study by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) and Down to Earth India reveals that almost all brands of honey being sold in Indian markets are adulterated with sugar syrup. Honey of 13 brands was sent for advanced tests to Germany. However, the same samples that passed in India failed adulteration tests in Germany, CSE says. While releasing its investigation report, Sunita Narain, Director General of CSE, said, “It is a food fraud more nefarious and more sophisticated than what we found in our 2003 and 2006 investigations into soft drinks.”

“It is more damaging to our health than perhaps anything that we have found till now – keeping in mind the fact that we are still fighting against a killer pandemic with our backs to the wall. This overuse of sugar in our diet will make it worse,” she added. “This is immensely worrying, as it will further compromise health. We know that households today are consuming more honey because of its intrinsic goodness – antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties. Our research has found that most of the honey sold in the market is adulterated with sugar syrup. Therefore, instead of honey, people are eating more sugar,” she stated.

Here are the findings:

• Investigations by CSE with laboratory studies in India and Germany reveal rampant adulteration in honey sold by major brands in India—77% of samples found adulterated with sugar syrup.

• Only three out of 13 brands passed the internationally accepted nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) test.