Buzz off! Nearly half of honey in European markets is fake, according to EU investigation

9 comments
  1. Why (as someone living in germany) I only buy honey from germany. Just look on the jar and makes sure it isn’t made from EU and non-EU countries. or buy it straight from the bee keeper. If honey is cheap it is not real honey.

  2. When is the EU going to wake up and prioritise internal production of such important goods?

  3. Beekeeper here. One of the problems is that beekeepers feed sugar syrup to their colonies, to encourage them to build up in the spring or to get them through the winter. The bees store the syrup in combs just like honey, and it can find its way into the harvest.

    I dye my sugar syrup bright blue (organic spirulina food colouring) which makes it easier to spot, but most beekeepers don’t, especially on commercial scale.

    It’s not that beekeepers are padding out honey with syrup, it’s that syrup feed is getting mixed in with the harvest.

    It’s a problem worldwide, not just in Europe

  4. If it’s not labeled EU honey only in big letters, most likely all or mixed with “Chinese honey” and usually there are not much of actual honey in it.

Leave a Reply