Why making honey isn t always a sweet business
Chemists like Wiley devised tests to detect such adulteration, but fakers found ways around them and the pattern has continued.
Synopsis
The recent exposé by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) of alleged tampering with honey by leading Indian brands showed how sophisticated scamming has become, with so called “all pass” syrups made in China and now, according to CSE, in India too specifically to evade the standard tests.
Converting nectar into honey is laborious. When the bees that forage nectar return to the hive, they pass it on to other bees, who in turn pass it on to others. “Each bee pushes the nectar into flat drops on the underside of her proboscis and exposure to the air helps evaporate some of the liquid,” explains Hattie Ellis, in Sweetness & Light, her history of the honey bee.