The SA Bee Industry Organisation had a workshop last Thursday (on World Bee Day) to unpack the growing problem of honey adulteration and its threat to biodiversity, reports The Daily Maverick.
They hope to send a message for consumers, regulators, and retailers to vote with their wallets and stem the rising tide of fake honey.
Out of all these high-demand food products, honey fraud has particularly increased and evolved because it is a more complex product that makes testing its authenticity rather expensive.
Honey is defined by the Codex Alimentarius (1981), which is a collection of internationally accepted standards of practice to protect consumer health and ensure fair practices in the food trade, as follows:
Investigating Food Fraud in the Honey Industry
Thought LeadersRon PhippsVice PresidentApimondia Scientific Commission on Beekeeping Economy
With a growing focus on healthy eating, the demand for honey has been increasing. Producers of genuine honey cannot compete with the fraudsters since their honeys are continually being undercut by cheap imitations.
In this interview, News-Medical talks to Ron Phipps about food fraud within the honey industry and the methods for investigating it.
Can you give us an overview of food fraud and why it is such an issue for honey production?
Food fraud has devastating consequences, particularly in the field of honey production, which the U.S. Pharmacopeia has classified as the third largest area of adulteration in the current era. Our aim is to find solutions to solve this problem and prevent its recurrence.