How would you react if, after purchasing a jar of  honey,  you discovered that not a single bee was used to produce it? You’d probably feel cheated, because you paid for something that isn’t honey. For this reason, it won’t go unnoticed to learn that on the shelves of Italian supermarkets you might find a jar of “fake honey” from  China .

The alarm was raised at the end of June by the  CIA-Italian Farmers’ Confederation , which denounced how this product, manufactured “on the fly” by human labor with the addition of glucose syrup and production methods  that do not comply with European standards , is difficult to detect at border controls. Not only is this a  fraud for consumers , but it also damages the entire supply chain, since the “fake honey” is priced decidedly competitive for the Italian market and risks putting domestic products out of business.

We asked  Alessandra Giovannini , vice president of the Ami – Honey Ambassadors Association and professor of honey sensory analysis, how to protect yourself from these scams, thus avoiding purchasing products that have very little authenticity.

The news about fake Chinese honey is quite worrying…

Let’s start by saying that the word honey cannot be used for such a product. Please note: it’s not illegal to sell extracts, syrups, or other sugary products of plant origin; however, they have nothing to do with honey, whose identification is regulated by specific regulations, and they also have a lower value. Cutting honey with rice syrup is unfortunately nothing new. We’re not talking about synthetic honey, but a plant-based product that is being fraudulently used to thin honey.

And so it clearly cannot be labeled as honey.

Exactly. There are countless possible frauds. Italian law is very restrictive and establishes that honey can only be defined as a product derived from the processing of nectar or honeydew by  honeybees . Furthermore, the honey’s country of origin must be indicated. Nothing can be added to it, not even a drop of essential oil: otherwise, it automatically becomes a different commercial category, and in that case, it can be considered honey-based products.

Rice syrup isn’t harmful to your  health , but the market is clearly being defrauded by passing off a low-value product as a more valuable one. Consumers are being deceived and Italian beekeepers are being harmed. Looking at  global honey production figures , we see that China is the only country where it continues to increase, while all other continents are seeing a decline. This is thought-provoking.

How can it be distinguished from real honey?

The only way is through  laboratory analysis , which is also very sophisticated. DIY methods are unreliable.

How can we then defend ourselves from potential fraud?

Checking the origin is crucial  . Buying a product from China is a bit like going out of your way to find it; Eastern European countries are major honey producers, but there’s also, of course, Italian honey. The best weapon, however, is  product knowledge  . Single-flower honeys, as well as regional multi-flower honeys, are much harder to copy than those honeys whose organoleptic properties are standardized by the industry.

Why do we distinguish Parmigiano Reggiano or buffalo mozzarella so well from any other cheese, yet we might be fooled by the lack of honey? You’d notice immediately if you were sold goat’s cheese instead of pecorino, but you wouldn’t notice if you were sold sulla honey instead of acacia honey. And then, why do you know your local cheeses and wines so well, but not its honey? We should start by reconnecting with  local beekeepers .