Honey fraud is rampant. Scientists have found a new way to detect it

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Honey is one of the most faked foods in the world. Fraudsters often spike it with cheaper syrups and pass it off as “pure” honey. Since it looks the same, consumers are none the wiser. To help separate the real deal from the fake, scientists have developed a new method of authenticating honey without opening the jar.

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A research project led by Maria Anastasiadi, a professor in bioinformatics at Cranfield University in Bedfordshire, England, successfully tested samples of honey diluted with rice and sugar beet syrups using a non-invasive light analysis technique.

The method was “highly accurate” in detecting syrups in honey and identifying the ingredients’ “fingerprints.” According to the researchers, its portability and easy implementation make it ideal for screening honey throughout the supply chain.

“Honey is expensive and in demand — and can be targeted by fraudsters, which leaves genuine suppliers out of pocket and undermines consumers’ trust. This method is an effective, quick tool to identify suspicious samples of honey, helping the industry to protect consumers and verify supply chains,” Anastasiadi said in a statement.

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Researchers also devised a second method involving DNA barcoding. While used in food authentication to verify fish species, for example, they noted that the process isn’t commonly applied to honey. After spiking honey samples from different seasons and various flower sources with corn and rice syrups, they found that this method detected as little as one per cent adulteration.

“Our study showed that this is a sensitive, reliable and robust way to detect adulteration and confirm the origins of syrups added to the honey,” said Anastasiadi. “The large variation of honey composition makes it particularly difficult to authenticate. So having this consistent technique in the testing armoury could take the sting out of honey fraud.”

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A separate March 2024 research paper published in the Journal of Food Protection identified honey, along with milk, olive oil, spices, fish and seafood, as being especially prone to fraud.

Last year, the European Commission found that nearly half of the 147 honey samples tested were adulterated. In 2018, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) diverted roughly 12,800 kilograms of adulterated honey, valued at almost $77,000, from store shelves. Of the 240 samples tested, the CFIA found that 21.7 per cent had been cut with inexpensive beet sugar, corn syrup, rice syrup or sugar cane. All of the tainted samples were imported; the domestic samples were unadulterated.

“Honey that has been deliberately adulterated is considered food fraud, which deceives consumers about what they are buying and creates an unfair market for those selling authentic honey,” the CFIA said in a report at the time.

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Professional testing, such as the two new methods developed by Anastasiadi and colleagues, is the most reliable way to tell if honey has been cut with syrups. There are at-home purity tests touted online, which experts don’t recommend.

“The industry spends hundreds upon hundreds of thousands of dollars every year for very expensive, very sophisticated tests. And somebody’s like, ‘Oh, well, take it home and do the flame test, or the water test,’” Eric Wenger, member of the board of directors for True Source Honey, told Ambrook Research. “We just shake our heads, and it’s like, please don’t promote those tests because if they worked, we would all do them because they’re very cheap.”

Saskatchewan beekeeper Jake Berg, chair of the Canadian Honey Council, said on an episode of the CFIA’s podcast Inspect and Protect that buying locally is one way to avoid being a victim of “honey laundering.”

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“The best solution that I can offer to the consumer would be (to) buy local honey,” said Berg. “Find your local beekeeper and buy directly from the beekeeper. Or if nothing else, if you’re buying in the grocery store, buy 100 per cent Canadian honey.”

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