Honey sold by several major brands in India has been found adulterated with sugar syrup. This was claimed by environment watchdog Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). It said that almost all top brands use sugar syrup while selling honey to the customers.
Major Indian brands including Dabur, Patanjali and Zandu are selling honey adulterated with a modified sugar from China, which can bypass some of the basic tests used to detect adulterated honey, researchers from the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) have alleged. Responding to these allegations, spokespersons from Dabur, Patanjali and Zandu denied that their honey products were adulterated and pointed out that they meet regulatory requirements laid down by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). According to CSE director general Sunita Narain, the organisation launched an investigation when beekeepers in North India reported reduced profits despite a spike in honey sales during the Covid-19 pandemic. “It is a food fraud more nefarious and more sophisticated than what we found in our 2003 and 2006 investigations into soft drinks; 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 COVID-19 pandemic with our backs to the wall,” Narain said in a statement Wednesday. The CSE study found that almost all brands of honey being sold in the Indian market are adulterated with sugar syrup. “This is immensely worrying, as it will further compromise health in the troubled times of Covid-19. We know that households today are consuming more honey because of its intrinsic goodness — antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties,” Narain said. “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, which will add to the risk of Covid-19. “Sugar ingestion is directly linked to obesity, and obese people are more vulnerable to life-threatening infections,” added Narain. According to the CSE, the honey adulteration business has evolved to bypass existing tests. Initially, sugars from corn, sugarcane, rice and beetroot used to be added to honey to increase sweetness. Such adulteration is detected by what are known as C3 and C4 tests. The new modified ‘Chinese sugar’, however, can only be detected by a test called Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR). NMR tests have very recently been made mandatory in India for honey that is meant for export. Researchers at the CSE selected 13 top and smaller brands of processed and raw honey being sold in India. Samples from these were tested at the Centre for Analysis and Learning in Livestock and Food (CALF) at the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) in Gujarat. Almost all, except Apis Himalaya, passed the basic tests of purity, the CSE said. However, when the same brands were tested using NMR, which was conducted by a specialised laboratory in Germany, most brands failed. Of the 13 tested, only three brands passed the NMR test. “It shows how the business of adulteration has evolved so that it can pass the stipulated tests in India,” said Amit Khurana, programme director of CSE’s Food Safety and Toxins team. “Our concern is not just that the honey we eat is adulterated, but that this adulteration is difficult to catch. In fact, we have found that the sugar syrups are designed so that they can go undetected,” Khurana added. Saffola, MarkfedSohna and Nature’s Nectar were the brands that passed all tests.
Honey sold by several major brands in India has been found adulterated with sugar syrup, the environment watchdog CSE claimed Wednesday. Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) food researchers selected 13 top as well as smaller brands of processed and raw honey being sold in India to check their purity. TRENDING NEWS Representational Image Missing 10-year-old boy's body found in woods in north Kashmir's Kupwara Representational Photo 20 arrested in Srinagar during protests against Palestine killings Representational Image BSF trooper dies of cardiac arrest in north Kashmir's Uri Image for representational purpose only. [File/GK] J&K govt refutes rumours about regularization of daily rated workers under SRO 64 It was found that 77 per cent of the samples were adulterated with the addition of sugar syrup. Out of the 22 samples checked, only five passed all the tests. “Honey samples from leading brands such as Dabur, Patanjali, Baidyanath, Zandu, Hitkari and Apis Himalaya, all failed the NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) test,” the study said. Responding to the claim, Emami (Zandu) spokesperson said, “Emami as a responsible organisation ensures that its Zandu pure honey conforms and adheres to all the protocols and quality norms/standards laid down by the Government of India and its authorised entities such as FSSAI.” LATEST NEWS Representational Image Missing 10-year-old boy's body found in woods in north Kashmir's Kupwara Representational Photo 20 arrested in Srinagar during protests against Palestine killings Representational Image BSF trooper dies of cardiac arrest in north Kashmir's Uri Image for representational purpose only. [File/GK] J&K govt refutes rumours about regularization of daily rated workers under SRO 64 Dabur too refuted the claim, saying the recent reports seem “motivated and aimed at maligning our brand”. “We assure our consumers that Dabur honey is 100 per cent pure. It is 100 per cent indigenous, collected naturally from Indian sources and packed with no added sugar or other adulterants. We also assure our consumers that Dabur does not import any honey/syrup from China and our honey is sourced entirely from Indian beekeepers,” it said in a statement. It added that Dabur is complying with all 22 parameters mandated by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India for testing honey. “In addition, Dabur honey is also tested for the presence of antibiotics, as mandated by FSSAI. Further, Dabur is the only company in India to have an NMR testing equipment in our own laboratory, and the same is used to regularly test our honey being sold in the Indian market. This is to ensure that Dabur Honey is 100 per cent pure without any adulteration,” it said. Dabur also shared a copy of an NMR test report from Germany that stated that Dabur honey has passed the test. Commenting on the development, Patanjali Ayurved spokesperson S K Tijarawala told PTI, “We manufacture only the natural honey, which is approved by the food regulator FSSAI. Our product meets the standards laid by FSSAI. He also alleged that it was a conspiracy to defame the natural honey producers” of the country. “This is a conspiracy to sell German technology and costly machinery. This is also a conspiracy to defame the natural honey producers of the country and promote the processed honey. This would also dampen India’s contribution to the global honey market,” he said. Baidyanath and other companies couldn’t be contacted immediately. Samples of these brands were first tested by the CSE at the Centre for Analysis and Learning in Livestock and Food (CALF) at the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) in Gujarat. According to the Centre for Science and Environment, almost all the top brands passed the tests of purity, while a few smaller brands failed the tests to detect C4 sugar–it is the basic adulteration using cane sugar. “But when the same brands were tested using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) laboratory tests currently being used globally to check for such modified sugar syrups almost all big and small brands failed. Out of the 13 brands tests, only three passed the NMR test, which was done by a specialised laboratory in Germany,” it claimed. “What we found was shocking. It shows how the business of adulteration has evolved so that it can pass the stipulated tests in India. Our concern is not just that the honey we eat is adulterated, but that this adulteration is difficult to catch. In fact, we have found that the sugar syrups are designed so that they can go undetected,” said Amit Khurana, programme director of CSE’s Food Safety and Toxins team. The CSE also claimed that it tracked down Chinese trade portals which were advertising fructose syrup that can bypass tests to check adulteration. It also found that the same Chinese companies that advertised this fructose syrup that can beat C3 and C4 tests were also exported to India. CSE director general Sunita Narain said they then conducted an undercover operation to find out more. “Chinese companies informed CSE that even if 50-80 per cent of the honey is adulterated with syrup, it would pass all stipulated tests. A sample of the syrup that can bypass tests was then sent by the Chinese company as paint pigment to get through customs,” she claimed. We are consuming honey more of it to fight the pandemic. But honey adulterated with sugar will not make us well. It will, in fact, make us even more vulnerable. On the other hand, what should also concern us is that the loss of bees will lead to a collapse of our food system bees are critical for pollination; if honey is adulterated, then not only do we lose our health, but also the productivity of our agriculture,” she said. Narain said it is time to outwit the business of adulteration. “Ensure that every honey company is required to trace back the origins of the honey from the beekeeper to the hive,” she added.
An investigation into adulteration of honey has found that several major brands in India do not pass purity tests, which implies that there is adulteration in these honeys. The Centre for Science and Environment in Delhi and Down to Earth (DTE), which carried out the research, found that out of the samples of 13 brands sent for testing to a German lab, only three – Saffola, Markfed Sohna and Nature’s Nectar – met the internationally accepted standard for honey purity. The rest – Dabur, Patanjali, Baidyanath, Zandu, Hitkari and Apis Himalaya failed the test. Most of the brands selling honey in the Indian market were also found to be adulterated with sugar syrup. These findings were shared with the media on Wednesday by Sunita Narain, CSE’s director general. The samples of the honey from the selected brands were tested in both India, as well as a German lab, where they were put through a Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (NMR) – an internationally accepted standard for honey purity. Almost all the top brands, except Apis Himalaya, passed the tests in India, while a few smaller brands failed the tests to detect C4 sugar, i.e. basic adulteration using cane sugar. Seventy seven percent of the honey tested was found to be adulterated with sugar syrup, and out of the 22 samples tested, just five passed all tests for adulteration. Further, the study also found that there are syrups from China in India that are designed to pass the Indian tests mandated by the Food and Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). “It shows how the business of adulteration has evolved so that it can pass the stipulated tests in India. Our concern is not just that the honey we eat is adulterated, but that this adulteration is difficult to catch. In fact, we have found that the sugar syrups are designed so that they can go undetected,” says Amit Khurana, programme director of CSE’s Food Safety and Toxins team. Read: Honey adulteration: Dabur, Patanjali, Emami refute investigation findings Adulterating syrups that pass Indian purity tests Honey is among the most adulterated substances in the world. The investigators’ first hint that something was afoot came from the changing FSSAI standards for purity of honey. The FSSAI standards for testing for adulteration in honey changed frequently since 2018. However, Amit said that it remained unclear how much the food regulator really knew about this “murky business.” Source: Presentation by CSE While FSSAI has a directive against use of golden syrup, invert sugar syrup and rice syrup, investigators found that Chinese portals like Alibaba, OkChem and Tradewheel were selling ‘fructose syrups’ and ‘glucose syrups’ that claimed to pass several honey adulteration tests. The major sellers were found to be a company called Wuhu Runquin daily necessities, HYK Foods and Wuhu Deli for fructose; and Hunan Huishend, Anhui Baihe Foodstuff Co. Ltd., and Anhui Shunxin for glucose syrups. “[…] China is driving the trend of fructose syrup quantity imported in India. The average quantity is over 10,000 MT every year since 2014-15. Similarly, all glucose syrups imported to India have come from China since 2016-17. There was a spike in the imported quantity to more than 4,300 MT in 2017-18,” DTE reported. Reporters ultimately sent emails to Chinese companies named CNNFoods and Wuhu Deli Foods, asking for syrups that could pass honey adulteration tests in India and received affirmative responses. Investigators also learnt of a code word from beekeepers called ‘all pass syrup’, which is reportedly being manufactured in India, in a factory in Jaspur, Uttarakhand, and procured samples. Sunita then said in the virtual press conference that using this syrup, they adulterated different samples of honey with Chinese as well as the Indian ‘all pass’ syrup up to 25%, 50% and 75%, and sent the samples to CALF lab. The honey with 25% and 50% adulteration passed the purity test; the 75% adulterated ones did not. With this, investigators confirmed that sugar syrups that pass FSSAI’s 2020 standard for honey exist in India. Impact on beekeepers, people’s health After doing the tests in India, investigators sent samples of well-known big and small brands, mentioned earlier, to a German lab for NMR test. Only samples from three brands passed. The investigators pointed out that this adulteration is bad news for beekeepers, as well as for public health. Beekeepers told DTE that they were getting good rates for honey till 2014-15, but then the rates fell from Rs 150 a kg to Rs 60-70 a kg. Bees are crucial for the ecosystem, as they work as pollinators too. As for consumers, by consuming adulterated honey with sugar syrups, they run the risk of becoming more vulnerable to obesity and overweight. They also warned that the dynamic nature of adulteration. While Dabur and other brands passed the Indian honey adulteration tests, they were found to be adulterated in the NMR tests. Arnab Pritam Dutta, one of the reporters with DTE, added that there is no real way for consumers to know if the honey they are consuming is pure or not either. “We need a farm to fork chain to be established, and traceability to know where the honey is being sourced from.” Investigators added that stricter enforcement and public testing be done so that companies are held responsible. They also suggest that import of syrups from China be stopped. When asked if they had made available the findings to the respective honey companies or the FSSAI, the investigators responded in negative, and said that now that the findings have been made public, the stakeholders are likely to respond.
The Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment on Wednesday said its tests had found 77 per cent of honey samples sourced from big and small branded companies in India “adulterated with addition of sugar syrup”. Under the regulations of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), adding anything to natural honey — including sugar syrups — before sale is illegal. The CSE said its “honeygate” study had found that some Chinese companies were exporting huge amounts of these syrups to India and that their price was about half that of honey. It said these companies’ advertisements on Chinese e-commerce portals like Alibaba said their products enabled adulterated honey samples to cheat the FSSAI’s tests. “Out of 22 samples tested, only five passed all the tests,” CSE director-general Sunita Narain said. Narain said: “Honey samples from leading brands such as Dabur, Patanjali, Baidyanath, Zandu, Hitkari and Apis Himalaya, all failed the NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance) test.” While NMR tests are used globally to detect adulteration by sugar syrups, the FSSAI does not use them on domestic honey. A Dabur spokesperson said the “recent reports seem motivated and aimed at maligning our brand” and insisted that Dabur Honey was “100 per cent pure” and that the company imported no “honey/syrup from China”. The spokesperson said Dabur complied with all the FSSAI norms and had “NMR testing equipment in our own laboratory, and the same is used to regularly test our honey sold in the Indian market”. An Emami spokesperson said the company’s “Zandu Pure Honey conforms to all the protocols and quality norms/ standards laid down by the government of India and its authorised entities such as FSSAI”. The reactions of the other brands will be published as and when they issue them. “Only 3 of the 13 brands (from which the 22 samples were sourced) – Saffola, MarkfedSonna and Nature’s Nectar (one of two samples) --- passed all the tests,” Narain said. With the Union ministry of Ayush prescribing honey as an immunity booster in its pandemic guidelines, the sale of honey has skyrocketed, jumping 35 per cent in March alone, industry sources said. India’s honey market, worth Rs 1,729 crore in 2019, was predicted to reach about Rs 3,060 crore by 2025, with trade experts clarifying this estimate had not considered the Covid push. The CSE suggested that the Indian authorities knew about the purported adulteration, underlining how the government recently made NMR tests mandatory for honey that is to be exported but not for domestic honey. “As of August 1, NMR tests have been made mandatory in India for honey that is meant for export, suggesting that the Indian government is aware of this adulteration business,” the CSE’s report says. Further, the CSE accused the Indian regulator of sowing confusion over the adulterating agent. “The FSSAI, in the past year, directed importers and state food commissioners that golden syrup, invert sugar syrup and rice syrup imported into the country were being used for adulteration of honey,” Amit Khurana, programme director with the CSE’s food safety and toxins team, said. But these three kinds of imported sugar syrups “are either not imported in these names or are not indicted (by the CSE) for adulteration”, he said. “Instead, Chinese companies are mostly exporting this syrup as fructose to India. Why did FSSAI put out what is clearly an erroneous order?” The CSE claimed that some factories in India were manufacturing the syrup with Chinese technology. A Dabur spokesperson said the “recent reports seem motivated and aimed at maligning our brand” and insisted that Dabur Honey was “100 per cent pure” and that the company imported no “honey/syrup from China”. The spokesperson said Dabur complied with all the FSSAI norms and had “NMR testing equipment in our own laboratory, and the same is used to regularly test our honey sold in the Indian market”. An Emami spokesperson said the company’s “Zandu Pure Honey conforms to all the protocols and quality norms/ standards laid down by the government of India and its authorised entities such as FSSAI”. Red flag Narain said the trigger for the investigation was the CSE’s discovery that while the sale of honey was going up, beekeepers were leaving the profession because of financial distress. “We felt there was something amiss --- while the sale of honey was going up, why were the beekeepers in such a state?” So, the CSE embarked on a bout of sleuthing that culminated in a series of tests in India and abroad, the entire exercise taking about five months, sources within the organisation said. First, the CSE undertook an undercover operation to track down the Chinese companies from advertisements in Chinese trade portals and got hold of the syrups. “To understand whether the sugar syrups would actually pass the laboratory tests undetected as claimed, the CSE then adulterated samples of pure honey,” Khurana said. “What was shocking is that adulterated samples with 25 per cent and 50 per cent sugar syrup passed the test of purity (by Indian standards).” The CSE then selected 13 of the bigger and smaller brands of processed and raw honey sold in India, and got 22 samples tested at the Centre for Analysis and Learning in Livestock and Food (Calf) at the National Dairy Development Board, Gujarat. Nearly all of them passed. “However, when the same brands were tested using nuclear magnetic resonance (at a) laboratory in Germany,” the CSE said, “almost all big and small brands failed.” Narain said: “We are hundred per cent confirmed about the findings.” The CSE claims that over the past four years, 11,000 million tonnes of fructose syrup have come to India as “industrial raw material” from the Chinese companies that advertise their product’s ability to beat the Indian tests. Narain told The Telegraph that adulterated honey was actually hurting those regularly taking it to improve their immunity. “With a high level of sugar syrup, we are getting empty calories without benefits, which can lead to weight gain, which is detrimental in the fight against Covid,” she said.
Honey sold by several major brands in India has been found adulterated with sugar syrup, the environment watchdog CSE claimed on Wednesday. Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) food researchers selected 13 top as well as smaller brands of processed and raw honey being sold in India to check their purity. It was found that 77 percent of the samples were adulterated with the addition of sugar syrup. Out of the 22 samples checked, only five passed all the tests. "Honey samples from leading brands such as Dabur, Patanjali, Baidyanath, Zandu, Hitkari and Apis Himalaya, all failed the NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) test," the study said. Responding to the claim, Emami (Zandu) spokesperson said, "Emami as a responsible organisation ensures that its Zandu pure honey conforms and adheres to all the protocols and quality norms/standards laid down by the Government of India and its authorised entities such as FSSAI." Dabur too refuted the claim, saying the recent reports seem "motivated and aimed at maligning our brand". "We assure our consumers that Dabur honey is 100 percent pure. It is 100 percent indigenous, collected naturally from Indian sources and packed with no added sugar or other adulterants. We also assure our consumers that Dabur does not import any honey/syrup from China and our honey is sourced entirely from Indian beekeepers," it said in a statement. It added that Dabur is complying with all 22 parameters mandated by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India for testing honey "In addition, Dabur honey is also tested for the presence of antibiotics, as mandated by FSSAI. Further, Dabur is the only company in India to have an NMR testing equipment in our own laboratory, and the same is used to regularly test our honey being sold in the Indian market. This is to ensure that Dabur Honey is 100 per cent pure without any adulteration," it said. Dabur also shared a copy of an NMR test report from Germany that stated that Dabur honey has passed the test. Commenting on the development, Patanjali Ayurved spokesperson SK Tijarawala told PTI, "We manufacture only the natural honey, which is approved by the food regulator FSSAI. Our product meets the standards laid by FSSAI. He also alleged that it was a conspiracy to defame the natural honey producers" of the country. "This is a conspiracy to sell German technology and costly machinery. This is also a conspiracy to defame the natural honey producers of the country and promote the processed honey. This would also dampen India's contribution to the global honey market," he said. Baidyanath and other companies couldn't be contacted immediately. Samples of these brands were first tested by the CSE at the Centre for Analysis and Learning in Livestock and Food (CALF) at the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) in Gujarat. According to the Centre for Science and Environment, almost all the top brands passed the tests of purity, while a few smaller brands failed the tests to detect C4 sugar, it is the basic adulteration using cane sugar. "But when the same brands were tested using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) laboratory tests currently being used globally to check for such modified sugar syrups almost all big and small brands failed. Out of the 13 brands tests, only three passed the NMR test, which was done by a specialised laboratory in Germany," it claimed. "What we found was shocking. It shows how the business of adulteration has evolved so that it can pass the stipulated tests in India. Our concern is not just that the honey we eat is adulterated, but that this adulteration is difficult to catch. In fact, we have found that the sugar syrups are designed so that they can go undetected," said Amit Khurana, programme director of CSE's Food Safety and Toxins team. The CSE also claimed that it tracked down Chinese trade portals which were advertising fructose syrup that can bypass tests to check adulteration. It also found that the same Chinese companies that advertised this fructose syrup that can beat C3 and C4 tests were also exported to India. CSE director general Sunita Narain said they then conducted an undercover operation to find out more. "Chinese companies informed CSE that even if 50-80 per cent of the honey is adulterated with syrup, it would pass all stipulated tests. A sample of the syrup that can bypass tests was then sent by the Chinese company as paint pigment to get through customs," she claimed. "We are consuming honey more of it to fight the pandemic. But honey adulterated with sugar will not make us well. It will, in fact, make us even more vulnerable. On the other hand, what should also concern us is that the loss of bees will lead to a collapse of our food system bees are critical for pollination; if honey is adulterated, then not only do we lose our health, but also the productivity of our agriculture," she said.
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