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RESEARCHERS affiliated with the Department of Science and Technology (DoST) have found that approximately 82% of honey products sold in the Philippines are actually sugar or corn syrups.
Angel T. Bautista VII, a researcher at the Philippine Institute of Nuclear Research, said that analysis at the nuclear level indicates that many honey products actually have a honey content close to zero.
“Eighty-two percent or 62 of the 76 brands of honey found to be adulterated were comprised of 95% C4 sugar syrup. So they are not actually adulterated, but are (mostly) sugar syrup, ”Bautista said in a statement.
Bautista said that 75% or 12 of the 16 Philippine honey brands sold in grocery or souvenir shops are adulterated. The corresponding percentage for honey sold online is 87%.
None of the 41 imported honey products available in Philippine markets were found to be adulterated.
“You may be buying honey for its wonderful health benefits, but due to the adulteration, you are really only buying pure sugar syrup. Consuming too much pure sugar syrup can cause harmful health effects, ”said Bautista.
Bautista said that the protein content of honey can be determined using a process called stable carbon isotope ratio analysis.
He said the carbon isotopes of real honey will match those of bees and flowering plants, while fake honey will combine with sugar cane and corn.
“The carbon 13 signature is like a honey fingerprint and common adulterants like sugarcane and corn are completely different from each other. Therefore, we can differentiate one from another. This unique isotopic signature is what we are using to know if the honey is real or fake, ”said Bautista.
Bautista said consumers are being misled, adding that adulterated honey can pose serious harm to the industry if left unchecked.
He estimated that the national honey industry is losing P200 million a year to counterfeits, which can sell for a little as a third of the price of real honey.
The DoST said that products labeled as honey should not contain additives. Any such addition must be specified on the label, in accordance with the Philippine National Standard for Honey imposed by the Bureau of Agriculture and Fisheries Standards.
The standard requires a declaration of the region of origin of the honey on the label.
Meanwhile, Bautista said the study’s findings have been relayed to the Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration.
“If we publish the names of the companies, they might stop for a while. But no one can prevent them from faking honey again in the future. If we incorporate these isotope-based standards into our regulatory system and the Philippine National Standards, we think it will be a durable solution to this problem, ”said Mr. Bautista. – Revin Mikhael D. Ochave
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